The Next Generation of Smashers
by SkullRising
Summary: A new threat has appeared, and the smashers cannot stop it alone. They have selected new heroes to finish this fight for them. T for swearing and violence... Mainly. OCS ARE CLOSED. Chapter one has now been edited.
1. Introduction

**Edit: I decided to redo this chapter because honestly, I hated the original. Hopefully this version's a bit better, but I'm writing from scratch because my original copy got deleted a long time ago. If it still seems a bit weak, it might have to do with my head being a bit fuzzy due to my cold. **

**Anyway, enough of that. Here we go!**

…**.**

The sound of swords clashing filled the arena, drowned out only by the roar of the crowd screaming for their favorites. It was the beginning of a new tournament, one that many believed would be the biggest and most vicious yet.

The current competitors were Marth and Ike, the two warriors representing the Fire Emblem series. It was a three-stock match, no items allowed. At the moment, it was tied with both swordsmen having lost two of their three chances. Marth had just knocked his opponent off of the field, and Ike, not being able to recover from the fall, was quickly returned to the stage on a hover platform.

As the platform neared the center of the arena, Ike could see that Marth was sweating profusely. The young man had been using all his strength to keep his opponent at bay, dodging Ike's powerful swings and quickly countering with a flurry of vicious strokes, and now panted from exhaustion. The mercenary allowed himself a small smirk. While he himself was tired, he knew that Marth would have a hard time dodging him now, and that freed him up to use his more powerful attacks.

As soon as his ride stopped, Ike jumped off and swung his blade downward, attempting to catch his opponent by surprise. The other man quickly sidestepped and attempted a swipe at Ike's head. It was so sloppy compared to his earlier attacks, however, that Ike easily brought up his blade and countered, smashing the great sword into Marth's side. Master Hand's magic kept the blade from cutting him in half, but that's not to say it didn't hurt. To the blue-haired prince, it felt like someone had just hit him with a battering ram.

Recovering quickly, he got to his feet and pulled back his sword so that it touched his shoulder, a purplish light starting to glow at the tip. As Ike rushed forward, Marth narrowed his eyes and focused, pumping as much power into the blade as he could. When the mercenary drew near, he lunged forward, the deadly magic ready to do its work.

But then he stopped. Ike had blocked his last chance of winning, and with a smirk the man reversed his grip on Ragnell and smashed the heavy sword into Marth's hip, sending him flying off the stage.

Ike plunged his sword into the ground and leaned on it, panting heavily. _"Where's the call?" _he thought. Usually, the announcer would have shouted, "Game!" as soon as Marth had been beaten, but the call never came. The crowd, which had only a second ago been shouting praise and despair alike, was now reduced to mumbling among themselves, wondering what was happening. Ike's stomach lurched. Something was wrong, _very _wrong. Suspicious, he looked toward the announcer's box on the north side of the arena.

The normally clear glass was smashed and stained a deep red, glistening crimson shards falling into the stands. Ike couldn't see past that, and he didn't want to. He'd seen more than his fair share of blood, but that didn't make it any easier. He gripped Ragnell's hilt tightly and drew it from the ground, settling into a ready position. Sweat beaded on his face and arms, and the mercenary knew that if something powerful attacked, he'd have little chance of stopping it.

Ike looked around the arena, searching for any disturbances, and time seemed to slow to a halt. The audience's cries grew quieter, and their movements became sluggish. Swirling red and black smoke began to fall over the battlefield, eventually completely blocking Ike's vision. He narrowed his eyes and tensed, preparing for a fight as best he could.

"Ike," said a deep, masculine voice that sent shivers down his spine. The man turned to face the sound, bringing Ragnell up into a fighting stance. The figure that greeted him was tall, strange and somewhat frightening. What looked like a black dragon's skull sat on its broad shoulders, maw opened wide to reveal an angular set of eyes, the irises glowing red with menace. It wore heavy armor, black as night and swirling with grey shadows. It carried a massive broadsword in one hand, the blade wickedly serrated and polished to a shine. The being smiled, displaying red-rimmed teeth, long and sharp.

"That was an impressive match," it rumbled, "but what say you to a _real _fight, a battle that will truly test your skill?" A low chuckle escaped its lips.

"What the hell are you?" Ike asked, taking a step back.

"You, mortal, may call me Espirus, the Lord of Shadows. Or you may call me death. It makes no difference."

"What do you want?" The mercenary tightened his grip.

"What I want is a fight. I want to test your skill, to see if you really pose such a threat as I have been led to believe."

"A threat to what, exactly?"

"A threat to my plans, of course. I can't have 'heroes' like you and your friends getting in my way, so I came to see if you could possibly hold your own, and that I may act accordingly." Espirus smiled again.

Ike sighed inwardly. "So you're another maniac bent on ruling the world? Been there, stopped that."

The Lord of Shadows laughed. "You misunderstand, 'hero', I don't want to rule the world, I want to destroy it!"

"Same thing to me, really. Either way you'll be stopped, I promise you that."

"We'll see." He lunged at Ike, swinging his broadsword with inhuman speed. The mercenary managed to jump away from the blade, but only just. He counterattacked, forcing the armored warrior to defend himself quickly. The two swords met in a clash of monstrous power, and both men fought to break the other's defense.

Ike was strong, but he was also tired, and Espirus was no novice. Slowly the Lord of Shadows pushed Ragnell towards the earth, despite the mercenary's desperate attempts to stop him. Suddenly, Espirus twisted his blade away from Ike's and spun clockwise, using the momentum to power a swing that bypassed his opponent's defense and cut deeply into his chest.

Ike jumped back with a pained cry, clutching at the gaping wound that stretched from his right shoulder to his left hip. The pain was searing, eating away at his last reserves of strength. He couldn't bear it and fell to his knees, gasping for air. The Lord of Shadows grinned and approached, letting his weapon drag behind him. He hefted it up into the air and held it over Ike's neck, ready to end his suffering.

And then a massive white glove smashed into him from the side, sending him sprawling across the field. Espirus could feel the power and fury emanating from it like an aura, and for the first time in many years he felt a pang of fear. However, he hid it behind his grinning expression and stood up, raising his blade.

"You would be the Master Hand, I assume?"

"Let's skip the formalities, demon. I will give you one chance to retreat and one only. Remove yourself from this place or I will be forced to do so myself."

Espirus let out a sharp bark of laughter. "You truly believe you can stop me? I had heard that you were wise; clearly my contacts were wrong." He just barely dodged a second attack. _"I'll need to be careful with this one," _he thought, and quickly counterattacked with a vicious backhand slash. Master Hand easily floated out of reach and shot glaring blue light from his fingertips, the beams searing the ground where they made contact. The Lord of Shadows maneuvered around them with surprising agility and jumped, swinging his broadsword in midair towards his foe. Master Hand dodged again, but this time the blade made slight contact, slicing a long but shallow cut in the white glove.

An unearthly roar filled the air as Master Hand smashed into Espirus once again, knocking him to the ground. This time the man laid still, his broadsword safely out of his reach as he sprawled on his back. The hand sighed and turned toward Ike. He focused his magic and began to heal the mercenary, closing his wound and restoring some of his strength.

As he worked, Espirus's right hand twitched a little and then planted itself on its fingertips on the ground. The warrior sent a large supply of dark magic into the earth, using his hand as a conduit. The energy was visible on his hands as he did it, slithering like a mass of black snakes down his arm and into the soil. There it spread like a disease until it was a mass of writhing black tentacles that slowly moved toward Master Hand. The appendage was completely unaware of the threat, focused as he was on healing Ike.

Then the magic gripped him, shooting out of the ground and wrapping itself around each of his fingers, stopping him completely. Master Hand roared again, struggling against the black vines, but they held him tightly in place. Espirus got to his feet and grinned again, triumphant. He raised his sword and walked casually over to his two enemies. Ike, while better than before, still was not strong enough to stand.

The Lord of Shadows' grin grew wider when he saw the defiant look in the mercenary's eye and he said happily, "Be patient, my friend. You'll have your turn soon enough!" He stood in front of the giant white glove and raised his blade. "You were a worthy opponent," he murmured almost regretfully, "but sadly, our little game must end here." He plunged the blade deep into the center of Master Hand's body, and as the appendage screeched, he laughed. Espirus held the blade there a minute after the screaming stopped, savoring his victory.

And then once again he was sent flying as a great white mass collided with him. "You know," he growled as he got to his feet, "I am _really _getting tired of that." An even larger hand now floated above him, its fingers bending in odd ways as they curled and uncurled.

"You will regret coming here, Shade," it said, its unearthly voice shaking with rage. "You will regret what you have done."

"I really doubt that," Espirus said, his grin returning. But he could tell that as powerful as Master Hand had been, this new opponent was even stronger. "I would guess that you're the one they call 'Crazy Hand'?"

The glove didn't answer. Instead, it began to shake, glowing a light blue as it did. Crazy had already known how he would handle Espirus. He'd decided on it as soon as his brother had been killed. _"Brother, forgive me," _he thought, his normally booming voice filled with regret. Still glowing, the hand gripped the Lord of Shadows tightly, ignoring the massive wounds that Espirus's blade inflicted upon him. As his adversary struggled, Crazy Hand used what little energy he could spare to send Ike back to his comrades with a message, one that he knew would decide the fate of their world.

Then he exploded like a blue supernova, taking his brother's murderer with him.

….

Ike cursed violently and repeatedly as he appeared in the main lobby of the Smashers' building complex. The Smashers lived within a single building that housed more rooms than one could count, each and every one of them connected by a series of tunnels. Link had tried exploring them once, but he had given up after a while because of a bit of Master Hand's magic that prevented him from going to certain areas. The mercenary got to his feet and shakily headed toward their meeting room, gripping his painful wound all the while.

Once there, he sat down at the large table that occupied much of the room's space. He pressed a button underneath the lip of the table, and as a small microphone located next to the button activated, he said in his most authoritative voice, "Everyone, get to the meeting room _now. _We've got a situation." With that, he sat back in his chair and waited impatiently as the Smashers left what they were doing and headed toward the chamber.

It was about ten minutes later when everyone was seated. "Alright," said a clearly irritated Wolf, "you've got us here, Ike. What was so important that you needed us so quickly?" Scowling at the pilot, Ike quickly related to them what had happened after the match. Wolf didn't speak after that. Even for him, it was a bit shocking.

"So what do we do?" asked Ganondorf, itching for a fight.

"Crazy told me to tell you this:

_Master Hand is dead, and I will be following him soon. A powerful warrior has come to kill you, and you will not be able to stop him on your own._

_You must find new Smashers, ones who can take your place and defeat the Lord of Shadows. Choose wisely, for the fate of all worlds may hang in the balance._

_Goodbye, my friends." _

"What the hell does that mean?" The Smashers began to argue with each other over what should be done.

"It means," Pit began, speaking as loudly as he could, "that we need backup. Palutena taught me a spell a long time ago that can send our souls, as well as our powers and abilities, into a person of our choice or whoever represents our skills the best. It's risky, seeing as if the Chosen is killed, we die as well, but it's really our only shot."

"Why don't we just go and handle this ourselves?" asked Samus. "There's no way he can take all of us."

"Remember Tabuu?He defeated all of us in one shot. Imagine him, but ten times as powerful. That's what we'd be facing." Samus paled. That was a disturbing thought. Pit continued, "So, if there are no other objections, we're doing this spell."

"Quick question," said Link, "how do we cast this spell of yours anyway? Half of us can't even cast normal magic."

"Everyone just put your hands on the table. The connection will anchor all of us to the spell, so I'll really be the only one casting it." Link nodded and did as he was told. When everyone had done so, Pit began to chant. As one, they cast the spell, hoping that they would make the right choice.

….

**God, I've been waiting so long to fix this chapter. Personally, I like this version a lot better than the original intro. Let me know what you guys think! I'll be editing Chapter 2 next, seeing as it's so damn repetitive that I want to smash my computer because of it. **

**I'm leaving out the OC form now, simply because I'm no longer accepting OCs anyway. Later!**


	2. The Legend Begins

**Alright people, here's the next chapter. I will introduce the first 5 OC s, along with my own, in this chapter. 2 warnings: 1: I might get the OC characters' personalities a little mixed up. 2: This story will contain some of my "Special" brand of humor.**

The teenager got to his feet. He stood 5 feet 8 inches tall and was clothed head to toe in black. His T-shirt, jeans, jacket, long scarf, combat boots, and fingerless gloves were all pitch-black. He carried a black version of Ike's sword strapped across his back, and a black blaster clipped to his silver chain belt. His blonde hair covered one of his grey eyes. Oh, and his name was Leon.

_What the hell just happened? _he thought. He had been walking throught the forest when he had been hit by something hard. Suddenly, he was no longer in the forest. He was in a stadium, watching Ike be defeated, and Master Hand and Crazy Hand be destroyed by a mysterious and deadly warrior. Then, strangest of all, he had heard a voice.

_You are one of the chosen. You must destroy the Lord of Shadows. Gather the others, for only together will you stand a chance. Go to the ruins, for there the next generation shall be born._

As Leon was processing this, something even more strange happened. Ike appeared in front of him. Well, not exactly Ike. He was a translucent bluish color, and he was floating. "Leon," Ike said.

"Agh! Ghost!" Leon shouted in surprise. Ike rolled his eyes. _"I'm not a ghost, Leon,"_ Ike said. _"But I_ _will be soon if you don't find the others and stop this guy before it's too late."_

"Why me?" Leon asked. "Can't you and the other smashers defeat him yourselves?" Ike shook his head.

_"No," _he said. _"If we could, we would have by now. The only way to stop him is for the smashers and their chosen to work together."_

"Why am I one of the chosen?" Leon asked.

_"Because you're one of the only people who can match me in a fight,"_ Ike replied with a smirk. _"Combine my power with yours and we make quite a force to be reckoned with."_

"How will I even know who is a chosen one?" Leon asked. "What, do I just go up to random people and say 'Hey are you one of the chosen ones who have to stop the world's worst nightmare with the help of the old smashers' souls, even though the old smashers nearly got killed by someone we don't even know how to fight, let alone defeat?'"

Ike frowned. _"Still as much of a smartass as ever, I see,"_ he said. _"Did you even listen to the message? You have to go to the ruins. The others will be led there by their smasher and that's how you will meet."_

Leon shrugged. "Fine, but if this is a prank, Ike, you're dead man." He cracked his knuckles and headed off to the ruins.

* * *

><p>Jake Heart had had some wierd days, but this one was easily the wierdest of all. He had just been wandering around the city as usual when he had been hit hard in the chest. Then he had seen something that he would probably need therapy for.<p>

He had seen Master Hand be obliterated by a warrior with a simple snap of his fingers. And then he had seen Crazy Hand give up his life to avenge his brother and warn the remaining smashers.

And then he had heard a voice.

_You are one of the chosen. You must destroy the Lord of Shadows. Gather the others, for only together will you stand a chance. Go to the ruins, for there the next generation shall be born._

Oh, I realise that I've forgotten to describe Jake. He was 6'5 in height and he wore a black shirt, black pants, a red jacket that covered his black angel wings, white shoes, and dark shades that covered his red and blue had short black hair, and he wore a white version of Pit's chain. In short, he looked like a dark version of Pit.

Trying to make sense of what had happened, Jake decided to take a shortcut through an alley on his way home. Then the wierdest thing yet happened. Pit appeared in front of him. But this wasn't how he appeared on SSBB. He was a pale, tranlucent blue, and he floated a few inches above the ground.

_"Finally!"_ he shouted. Jake jumped back in surprise.

"What the- Pit? Why are you all see-through now?" Jake asked. Pit rolled his eyes.

_"Cause I'm a soul now,"_ Pit said. _"And why are you going through an alley when you should be_ _going to the ruins?"_

"Why would I go through the ruins?" Jake asked. "I was going to go home to try and figure this out."

Pit sighed. _"You didn't listen to the message, did you? You're supposed to go to the ruins to find the other chosen ones," he said._

"Okay, 2 questions," Jake said. "One: Why am I one of the chosen? And two: How am I supposed to know how to get to the ruins in the first place?"

_"Well, you were chosen because your abilities practically mirror my own," _Pit said. _"And don't worry, I'll tell you how to get there. That's pretty much all I can do right now, anyway."_

Jake sighed. "Fine, I'll go. But if I die, I'm blaming you." With that, Pit disappeared and he left.

* * *

><p>Rachel Ocada Selrina Estain, also known as R.O.S.E., was having a freaky day. Actually, you should know what she looks like first. She stood 5'3 and wore a pink jumpsuit with nutlike symbol on the back. She had tan skin, black hair with pink streaks in it, and hazel eyes. She carried a gun with a lightning bolt symbol on it as a weapon. Back to the story. Well, you know the drill by now. Gets hit, sees Master and Crazy die, blah blah blah. But she saw R.O.B. as a smasher.<p>

When she inevitably asked "Why?" she was told it was because she knew what R.O.B. was dealing with. He was the last of his kind, while her entire family had been killed by a bomb. She was the lone survivor. R.O.B. explained that the fact that she could overcome the tragedy meant that she had an inner strength that would be crucial to the Lord of Shadows' defeat. R.O.S.E. shrugged and began to walk toward the ruins.

She was stopped by a Primid. Now, a lone Primid is not really a threat, but she wondered why it was there. After all, hadn't the Primids been wiped out by Tabuu's defeat?

_"Oh, no..." _R.O.B.'s artificial voice sounded in her head. "_The attack has begun sooner than expected." _Though he was a robot, she thought she could hear worry creeping into his voice. _'Oh, it can't be that bad,' _she thought back. Then she heard a cranking. Looking upward, she saw a large ship, much larger than the Halberd, opening and shadow insects were flooding out. As the insects hit the ground, they formed into Primids. Okay, so it _could _be that bad.

She drew her blaster. "_No," _R.O.B.'s voice came. "_You cannot fight them all. Your only chance is to get to the ruins and find the other chosen." _R.O.S.E. sighed. He was right. She was a good fighter, but she coudn't defeat that many Primids on her own. She holstered her blaster and began to run toward the ruins.

* * *

><p>Compared to the other chosen, Nick Tomas was having a relatively normal day. Before I get into what happened, here's what he looks like: He was 6 feet tall, with brown hair and sunglasses. He wore red pants, white shirt, yellow shoes, a black jacket, and a gold watch. Strange attire, but no one in this story really looks normal, do they? ...Wait, I'm off-topic again. Back to the story.<p>

Unlike the others, however, he found a note telling him to meet someone in the park. It didn't say who, just a simple "You'll know me when you see me." He shrugged and walked to the park.

Once there, he noticed something odd. The sky, which normally would have been blue, had turned a dark purplish-red. Then something hit him hard in the chest, and he had been knocked out for a few moments.

Well, you guys know what happened next. He sees Master and Crazy die, watches the warrior blown away with Crazy's dying breath, etc. Getting up, he saw a translucent Mario standing over him, his arms crossed.

_"'Bout-a time you-a got up!" _the Italian plumber shouted._ "There-a are Primids coming! Hurry up-a and try to get out before-a they catch you!"_

Nick slowly got up. "Get out?" he asked. "Where the heck am I supposed to 'get out' to?" Mario's soul facepalmed.

_"Kids-a these days never listen," _he said. _"You're supposed-a to go to the ruins to find the other chosen-a ones and stop that guy who killed-a the Master and Crazy! With-a the time you've wasted asking questions, you could-a have been running! Now-a you're surrounded." _

Nick was a little didn't really seem like the Mario from video games. But he had to admit that the plumber was right. He was completely surrounded by Primids, and there was no way out.

At least not for a normal person. He, however, was not normal. Concentrating, a small fireball welled up in his hand. He threw it at the Primids, setting many of them on fire. Running toward them, he punched one several times, and when he gave it a strong uppercut, coins seemed to pour out of his fist. _Okay, that's new, _he thought. _"That-a would be my power. Since you-a are my chosen, you have my-a powers in addition to your own-a," _Mario's voice blared in his head.

Nick fought for quite a while, attempting to make an opening, but there were too many Primids for him to fight on his own. He began to get tired, his blows becoming slower and the Primids' strikes hurting more. Just when he thought he would drop dead from exhauston, a voice shouted , "Hi-yah!" A dark version of Palutena's bow cut through a line of Primids, revealing a dark version of Pit.

"Catch!" Jake shouted to Mario's chosen, throwing him a heart piece. Nick caught it, and felt some of his fatigue decrease. "Come on!" Jake shouted to him, cutting through more Primids. "I can't do this by myself!" Nick nodded and they began to fight their way through the Primids, Jake slicing them to pieces and Nick setting them on fire and beating them into oblivion. After about ten minutes of this, they had cleared a path and had managed to get out. They found an alley and hid there, resting.

"You're one of the chosen, aren't you?" Nick asked. Jake nodded.

"Yep, I'm Pit's chosen. You?" the dark angel asked.

"Mario," Nick answered. The two nodded and started to head toward the ruins.

* * *

><p>Deep in the forest, a young man wearing a red shirt and shorts under a dark cloak was fighting a lion. He had shaggy blonde hair and blue-green eyes. Don't worry, fighting a lion was relatively normal for him. The lion was on top of him, held back from slicing through his throat by the teen's sword. The lion was pushing the sword farther down, close to exposing the teen's vulnerable throat. It raised it's claw, ready to deliver the killing blow...<p>

And was stabbed in the jugular by the teen's hidden knife. Will, the aforementioned teen, pushed the carcass off of him and cheered. Then something hit him hard in the chest. He blacked out for a little while, saw the murders, heard the voice, blah blah blah.

When he came to, a blue, tranlucent Link was standing over him. The soul smirked. _"Kid, that was an impressive kill," _it said. _"Looks like I made a good choice for a new hero." _Will raised an eyebrow.

"New hero?" he asked. "What do you mean by that?" Link frowned. _"You weren't listening to the message, were you?" _he asked. _"You have to go to the ruins, find the other chosen, and stop that homicidal maniac from taking over the world!" _

"Um...Ooookaaay," Will said, and began to walk toward the ruins.

He was interrupted by a loud yell, and a screech of pain. Looking behind him, he saw a Greap. Not only that, but there was a teen clothed all in black riding on it's head. Yep, it was Leon. He had buried his sword- he called it Dark Aether- in the Greap's vulnerable head. It was this that had caused the Greap to screech in pain. Pulling the blade out, Leon threw his sword into the air, caught it, and struck the Greap's head with all his might, cleaving the head in half. (Okay, he had just performed Aether, but I explain it that way because it sounds more epic.) The Greap screeched once more, then disappeared into a cloud of shadow insects.

Leon dropped to the ground. Will knew that if Leon had missed or been a second late, he would have been fileted by that Greap.

"Thanks," he said, helping Leon to his feet. It was almost comical, looking at them. Will stood 6'10, over a foot taller than Leon's 5'8. Comparing them, Will was rather thin, being over a foot taller and only 10 pounds heavier than Leon. Leon was built a little more solidly, being 140 pounds at 5'8. Back to the story.

Leon shrugged. "No problem," he said. "I saw you fight that lion back there. You're one of the chosen, aren't you?" Will nodded.

"Yeah, I'm Link's chosen," he said. "I'm guessing you're Ike's?" Leon nodded. With that, the two left for the ruins.

**Whew, I finally updated! I meant to update yesterday, but my friend wanted to brawl me, and then my other friend came over and we all brawled, ande then some more people showed up. Long story short, it turned into a 3-hour brawl tournament that didn't end till, like, midnight. (I won, by the way.) Just so there's no misunderstanding, the smashers themselves won't actually fight or anything. They only serve as guides to the new smashers, and lend them their power. Also, I won't update this again until I update my truth-or-dare. R&R, and please tell me what you think about the story. See you soon!**


	3. Galleom

**Hey, people! Sorry this took me so long, but I've been playing this new video game I bought. Oh, and something about the OCs: No Mary/Gary Sues! Not saying that any OCs are Mary/Gary Sues, but keep that in mind. I put the "Fears" thing there for a reason, and I'm going to exploit the crap out of those eventually… Anyway, the chapter!**

The man fired another shot from his Magnum, taking off a Primid's head. "_One down, about three billion to go," _he thought. He'd been fighting these Primids for a few hours, and he'd managed to kill quite a few with his powerful gun and other, ah, talents. But he was beginning to run out of ammo, and he didn't relish the idea of fighting a Greap with just his Bowie knife.

I realize I've forgotten to describe him. He was 6'1 and about 212 pounds. He wore a brown duster and a big hat, obscuring the view of his face and hair. He carried a .357 Magnum revolver and a Bowie knife. Oh, and his name was Coleman Franchek. Back to the fighting.

He began to retreat, firing at any Primids he saw. Managing to get to a small hill, he loaded his gun with Talon rounds, bullets that split on impact so as to deal a bit more damage to surrounding enemies. But for every Primid that he killed, it seemed 3 more took its place. Reluctantly, he began to give ground to the Subspace Soldiers.

_You are one of the chosen. You must destroy the Lord of Shadows. Gather the others, for only together will you stand a chance. Go to the ruins, for there the next generation shall be born._

"What the hell?" Coleman said aloud.

"_You're losing your touch, Franchek," _said a familiar voice. Coleman spun around, and saw a ghostly version of his old friend Samus. _"Losing to Primids. That's just pathetic." _

"Well," Coleman began as he shot down another Primid. "I doubt that even YOU could beat this many Primids."

"_Oh, I could take twice this many without breaking a sweat!" _Samus shouted in response. She sighed. _"But I'm not here to debate with you. I'm here to get you to go to the ruins. So get going already!" _With that, she disappeared.

"Uh, hello! Primids attacking here!"

"_Try firing a missile." _Came Samus' voice. "What?" Coleman asked.

"_Just do it." _Coleman shrugged. What harm could it do? He raised his weapon, but as he brought it up to eye level, he realized something.

The gun had almost doubled in size, and had changed into a weapon like the one on Samus' power suit. What's more, it was now attached to his arm. Coleman debated whether to be excited or freaked out. He chose excited.

He fired the weapon, and a missile sped from the gauntlet, destroying a small group of Primids. It was much more powerful than his Magnum, but he was not even making a dent in their forces. He fought with everything he had, but it wasn't enough.

"_Okay, new strategy," _Coleman thought. He raised his normal arm, and a field of blue light enveloped a large group of Primids. "_I've only got one shot. Better make it count." _He held the pressure for as long as possible, then released, the resulting explosion destroying a legion of Primids. He sprinted for the new opening, hoping to get out.

To his credit, he made it about 400 yards before he dropped.

The strain of creating the force field had left him tired, and he was not able to run very fast. "_Can't… quit… now…" _He thought as he fired at the Primids surrounding him.

A large blast shocked him and the Primids. Taking advantage of the momentary cease-fire, he got to his feet and saw a girl in a pink jumpsuit firing at Primids with a blaster. She'd cleared a large path to the outside, but the Primids' numbers were quickly overwhelming her. He had recovered a little from the force field, and ran to the girl.

As he got up close, he realized the girl couldn't have been more than twelve. He got to the clearing, and he shot a few Primids there.

"What the hell were you thinking, jumping into the Primids like that?" he practically shouted at the girl.

"Well, that's a fine way to thank someone who just saved your life!" the girl replied sarcastically.

"I was doing fine!" Coleman shouted indignantly.

"Yes, I could tell by the way you fell to the ground that you had it all under control." Coleman ground his teeth, trying to think of a comeback. Unable to think of one, he asked, "What's your name, anyway?"

"Rachel Ocada Selrina Estain. But you can call me R.O.S.E." The girl replied. "And yours?"

"Coleman Franchek," Coleman replied. They shot down a few more Primids to open a gap, and they ran from the battle.

…

Hikari was having a rather off day. First, she had been knocked unconscious by a strong force, then she had seen a blood-chilling murder and a selfless sacrifice, and to top it all off, when she woke up there was a large robot standing over her. It was this robot that had sent her into this uncomfortable position.

She was hanging for her life over a cliff.

Before I forget, here's what she looked like: She had spiky black hair with blue and silver outlines and black eyes. She wore a white choker around her neck, a black tank top ripped at the side, jean shorts, green tennis shoes, and a black chain necklace around her choker. She carried a two-handed sword on her belt, a blaster attached to her jeans, and a knife on her belt. Back to story.

…Okay, "Hanging for her life" is a bit of an exaggeration. She _was_ hanging from a cliff, but not like that. She stood on a small ledge just off the edge of the cliff. She'd been there for about an hour, and was beginning to become impatient. Then her day got even _weirder_.

A blue outline of Wolf appeared in front of her. Yes, Wolf. _"Hey, kid,"_ he said. Hikari jumped back a little in shock. "Who the heck are you?" Wolf looked indignant.

"_Who am I? WHO AM I? I am Wolf! The greatest smasher of all time!" _the lupine specter roared.

"…Okay… Why are you here and why are you a ghost?" Hikari asked.

"…_Uh, didn't you get the message? You're supposed to get to the ruins, FAST!" _Wolf said.

"Um, no, I didn't get any message. "

"_Damn, I forgot the message… Well, just get out of here and go to the ruins." _Wolf replied sheepishly.

"And how, exactly, am I supposed to do that?" Hikari asked.

"_Just wait. There's someone coming now…" _With that, Wolf disappeared.

Sure enough, a young male voice came over the edge of the cliff. "Need some help?" it asked. A rope was sent down the edge. "Grab the rope. I'll pull you up." Hikari did so, and slowly but surely was pulled out of the canyon.

After she had been pulled out, she looked at the person who had pulled her up. It was a teenage boy dressed all in black with blonde hair covering one of his eyes. Yep, Leon again.

"You okay?" he asked.

"Yeah," Hikari responded. "You should probably get out of here. It was Galleom that got me down there." Leon smirked.

"Yeah, I figured that." He pointed to the east, where Hikari could see Galleom apparently spinning in circles. Upon closer inspection, she saw that a tall teenager was running in circles around the large robot, shooting arrows as he went. Yep, it was Will.

"Hey, Leon!" Will shouted. "Did you get her out yet? I'm running out of arrows here!" Leon drew Dark Aether from its sheath, and started running to his friend. "I'm coming!" he shouted. Hikari smirked.

"_Payback time," _she thought. She drew her sword, the blade glowing blue as it came unsheathed, and dashed toward the battle.

As she neared the fight, she jumped over Leon, and black wings sprouted from her back. Flying upward, she landed on the robot's head. She raised the blade over Galleom's head with black wings outstretched, and bared her vampiric teeth, looking like an angel of death as she drove the sword into the beast's skull.

But Galleom was not beaten yet, and he shook Hikari off. He swung a mighty fist at Leon, who raised Dark Aether to meet the fist before it connected. The strong metal took the majority of the damage, but the sheer force of the blow sent Leon skidding back. Leon recovered quickly, and he charged at Galleom, his blade moving at lightning speeds. It cut deep into Galleom's steel armor, causing a good amount of damage. Galleom tucked his arms in, becoming rigid and stiff. The robot's body slammed into the ground, missing Leon, but the resulting shockwave sent Leon sprawling. Fortunately, Leon stabbed the point of Dark Aether into the ground to stop himself just before he fell off of the cliff.

Will was not slacking off either. After Leon was sent flying, he drew his own blade and attacked Galleom himself. As the robot swung at him, he rolled under the punch and came up behind Galleom. Pulling a bomb out of his bag, he threw it at the boss' head. He followed up by jumping as high as he could and using a spin attack to deal even more damage. As he fell, he completed the barrage by plunging his blade into the robot's head, using his momentum to cause extreme damage. Galleom was near death, but he grabbed Will and threw him forcefully into the dirt.

Hikari got up and rushed at the gigantic beast. Galleom again tried to simply crush her with his fist, but she saw it coming and used his arm as a walkway to gain easy access to the head. She struck with all her might, and finished the beast with a blow that could have cleaved stone in half. Galleom roared in anger as he exploded.

Hikari landed on her feet as Galleom fell, and her wings disappeared. Leon and Will both got up, their mouths open in shock.

"Remind me to never make her angry," Will said. Leon just nodded numbly.

…

After Leon had recovered from shock, and Will had retrieved his arrows, it was past sunset. The three chosen camped there, not wanting to travel after the intense battle. Leon was wiping the oil from Dark Aether, Hikari was sharpening her sword, and Will was testing his bombs to make sure they worked. All of them drifted off to sleep wondering what their next day would bring.

* * *

><p><strong>Yes, I know I didn't introduce 5 OCs this time, but I figured I'd delayed this chapter long enough. How'd you guys like my fight scene? Please tell me! In the next chapter I will introduce the following OCs: Lealonna, Gammic, and Lucia for sure, maybe more if I'm up to it. Also, can you guys please review even if I haven't introduced your OCs yet? It kinda annoys me when people only review when their OC is involved. One more thing: I need 22 more OCs by my count. I'll try to get the next chapter up by Thanksgiving, but I'm busy so no guarantees. Well, bye now! <strong>


	4. The Name of Evil

**And the next epic chapter! Well, semi-epic. Actually, maybe it's not epic. Find out for yourselves. Oh, and if you haven't guessed yet, I'm putting the OCs into certain groups that I make up as I go along. I'm going to keep them in groups as well. (You'll find out why soon.) I know what I'm going to do from here on out, so you might expect slightly faster updates. As soon as all OCs are introduced, the story will REALLY take off. **

_You are one of the chosen. You must destroy the Lord of Shadows. Go to the ruins, for there the next generation shall be born. _

These words echoed in Lealonna's head as she sprinted through the town, wild blonde hair flying. She was 5 feet tall and lithe, weighing around 125 pounds. She wore a black T-shirt, black cargo pants, black combat boots, a black cloak, dark brown fingerless gloves, and a leather belt. She carried a sword on her belt and a quiver of arrows which also carried her bow on her back. She had black eyes and lightly tanned skin as well.

I should probably tell you why she was running. Well, she was being chased by a large group of monsters. Why? Have a look…

_**Flashback…**_

_Lealonna was at her home, where she had lived since she was born. The entire building had been burned to the ground, leaving nothing but ash and rubble. _

"_Lea, we need to move, NOW!" It was her best friend Alice, her face covered in soot. She grabbed Lea by the arm, and they ran through the town, looking desperately for a way out. As they reached the city square, they saw what had devastated the town. _

_They saw an army of shadowy beings that absorbed any attack thrown at them. Nothing seemed to affect them, and they grew larger with each life they took. Lea watched as her friends and neighbors were cut down, any who fought back were killed in such ways that Lea had to close her eyes to keep them from entering her memory. _

_But the worst was yet to come. _

_In the middle of the carnage and destruction there stood a warrior, laughing maniacally as the townspeople were brutally murdered. He enjoyed their sorrow and their pain, their agony and deaths. He wore armor that was black as night and covered in spikes and skulls, both of humans and of beasts. The helmet he wore was in the shape of a skeletal dragon, the gaping mouth revealing his glowing red eyes. _

_Lea and Alice began to run away from the scene, but the warrior caught sight of them. He raised one arm and pointed at the two girls. The shadow beasts charged, almost faster than Lea could see. Suddenly, she felt a sharp pain in her ankle, forcing her to fall. The warrior motioned to the monsters, and they dragged Lea to him. Lea looked desperately for Alice, and saw that the monsters had caught her as well. The monsters threw them to the ground in front of the warrior, and then backed away, clearly fearing the Lord of Shadows. The man walked forward, and he grinned, his large and pointed teeth seeming to split his face in half. _

_He raised his enormous weapon and cackled, a laugh that chilled Lea to the very soul. Alice raised her arm in a last attempt to block the blade, but the sword easily cut through her arm and going straight into her brain. She died instantly. _

_Lea screamed and ran towards the man, drawing her own weapon. It was a small black sword with a thin blade, like a black version of Zelda's sword in Twilight Princess. The man barely glanced at her as the butt of his weapon connected with her skull. _

_As she blacked out, the last thing she heard was the man speaking. "Soon, all will fear the name Espirus!" He cackled, and she blacked out. _

_When she awoke, a ghostly blue Zelda stood over her, a look of worry on her face. _"Are you alright?" _she asked. Lea got to her feet. _

"_Yeah, I think so," she said. Zelda nodded. _"Good. You'll need your strength if you're to get to the ruins." _ Lea raised an eyebrow. _

"_The ruins? Why would I go there?" she asked. Zelda sighed. _

"Well, I thought it'd be easier for you if I didn't hit you in the face and show you a graphic murder. Just listen to this:

_You are one of the chosen. You must destroy the Lord of Shadows. Go to the ruins, for there the next generation shall be born." With that, Zelda disappeared. Lealonna gathered her senses and began to run…_

In the present time…

Lealonna stopped running and dropped to her knees, unable to take another step. She looked behind her, and saw that the beasts she had been running from were closing in. They quickly surrounded her, destroying any chance of escape. She drew her sword, but she knew that if they attacked she was finished. _"Well, if I'm going down, I'm going down fighting," _she thought.

The monsters charged. Lealonna slashed at one, but the blade went through like smoke. _"What?" _she thought. She stabbed at another, but it had the same effect. Zelda's voice echoed through her head.

"_Aim for the heart," _Zelda said. Figuring that she would be dead soon anyway, Lea did as she said. As the blade plunged through the beast, the monster howled in pain, and disintegrated. She grinned, and stabbed another. She spun around to face one behind her, and slashed through it easily. Still, there were far too many, and soon enough one managed to connect a blow. The monster's claw cut through her arm, sending a flash of searing pain through the limb. The scent of blood drove the others into a frenzy, and they attacked with renewed vigor.

Lea struggled to keep the monsters away, but her wounded arm made it much harder for her to fight. _"Just hold out a bit longer, Lea!" _Zelda's voice echoed in her head. _"Someone's coming, just keep them going for a minute longer!" _Lea managed to do so, and soon she heard two loud yells and a group of monsters to her right fell with screams of pain.

Two teenagers began to cut their way through the monsters, one slicing them to pieces with two gold daggers, and the other burning them to a crisp.

Thought I'd forgotten about Jake and Nick, didn't ya?

Lea quickly recovered from the shock and stabbed a monster that had been about to impale her. Getting up, she jogged over to the two boys and they cut a line through the monsters. As one was about to attack her, she heard Zelda's voice.

"_Use Din's Fire!" _ she shouted. Lea stopped for a moment. "I can use Din's Fire?"

"_Yes, as well as my other powers."_

"Why didn't you tell me this earlier?"

"_I-I'm not good in a crisis, okay?" _Zelda thought/said/I don't know.

"That explains how you keep getting captured…"

"_Shut up." _Lea smirked and gathered her energy and a small ball of flame appeared in her hand. Concentrating even more energy, she fired the orb at a group of monsters, burning them all to a crisp. _"Now _that _was awesome," _she thought. The two boys were just as shocked.

"I thought fire was MY power!" shouted Nick. "Less talking, more running!" shouted Jake. With that, the small group ran towards the ruins.

….

Leon was the first to awake. He stretched and yawned. _"Wait a minute… Where am I?" _He looked around the campsite and at the two teenagers who were still lying asleep. _"Oh…Right. World is ending. Now I remember. Better wake them up." _He walked over to Will and poked him. Will didn't move. He sighed and leaned down next Will's ear.

"WAKE UP YOU IDIOT!"

"AAAH!" Will screamed as he jumped up. He had half drawn his sword when he saw Leon. "Dude," he said. "Not cool." Leon shrugged. They both looked over at Hikari, sleeping soundly. Then they looked back at each other.

"Well, you can go wake her up," said Leon. Will shook his head.

"Uh, how about you do it?" Clearly he still remembered the fight with Galleom.

"No, YOU do it. I got you up."

"Yeah, but I didn't filet you."

"Why do _I _have to get beat up?"

"Because you owe me for distracting Galleom."

Leon ground his teeth. "Fine," he said. "But if I die, you stay away from my funeral." He drew Dark Aether from its sheath and gulped. He lowered the tip to Hikari's shoulder and gently poked her.

Hikari's eyes snapped open. She glanced up and saw that Leon had poked her with Dark Aether.

"WAAAAAHH!" Leon screamed as she grabbed the blade and threw him over her head and into the ground. He got up and rubbed his head. Will laughed. Leon gave him the finger.

As Leon got up, Hikari said, "Next time, you're going _through _the ground." Leon made a mental note to make Will do it next time. He cleared his throat. "Well, let's get going."

After they had packed up their equipment, they began to jog toward the ruins. After they had traveled for a good two hours, they began to see something in the distance. They quickly increased their pace to see what was going on.

As they drew near to the struggle, they saw that it was another Primid attack. Not only that, but there was only one person fighting against them. He was tall, wearing a purple robe and hat. He swung a wooden staff at the Primids and seemed to be casting magic at them. He fought with great concentration, each of his spells bringing down many enemies. However, he was being quickly overwhelmed by their sheer numbers.

Leon nodded to his friends, and they all charged at the crowd of Primids. Leon was not particularly fast, but each strike dealt great damage. Hikari destroyed the Primids quickly and efficiently, making up for her lack of speed with raw power. Will covered the other two with his speed and variety of attacks. Attacking in this manner, they easily made it to the mage, who was holding his own with a barrage of spells. Once they had reached him, they began to cut their way back through the Primids. It was made much easier with a mage on their side.

Once they had cleared a path and gotten a significant distance away from the Primids, the teens dropped to the ground and panted.

"So," Leon said once he had regained his breath. "What's your name?"

"Gammic," the mage replied. "I'm guessing you guys are chosen too?" The others nodded.

"I'm Ike's," Leon said.

"Link," said Will.

"Wolf," said Hikari. "What about you?" Gammic grinned.

"Ganondorf," he replied.

"Nice," Leon said, and the two high-fived. "So, any ideas on how to get to the ruins from here?"

Gammic shrugged. "I guess we should just-" He passed out. The others were, needless to say, confused.

Gammic, if you're wondering, had just been hit by Ganondorf. Just like the others. He watched the murder, like the others, and once it was done, he woke back up.

"Uh, Gammic? Are you okay?" Will asked. Gammic shrugged.

"I guess. If you count watching a murder as okay." Leon, not quite understanding, decided to change the subject.

"So… Back to getting to the ruins. Any ideas?" He heard Ike's voice in his head. _"Just keep heading south." _Figuring the mercenary probably knew more than he did, Leon decided to follow Ike's instructions. "Alright, let's head south."

"Why south?" Hikari asked. Leon shrugged.

"Got a better idea?"

"No."

"Then let's go south." Hikari sighed. "If we get lost, I'm going to kill you."

Leon shrugged. "If we get lost, then we'll be dead anyway." Hikari shook her head, but they all began to head south.

…

Lucia was in trouble. Before I forget, she was 4 feet 7 inches tall and about 80 pounds, and wore a yellow tunic and a yellow hat. She used a small sword and shield made of pure light. (Don't ask how this is possible, just go with it.) She had big brown eyes and auburn hair with side bangs that go to the right of her head and a side ponytail. She was only twelve years old, and even for her age was not very mature.

She was in trouble because she was fighting a Greap. Greaps were very strong creatures and she couldn't jump high enough to reach its vulnerable head with her small sword. Fortunately, the fact that her shield was made of light worked to her advantage. Using it, she was able to blind the beast long enough for her to land a few solid hits.

The Greap slowed, but only slightly. Lucia was not very strong, and Greaps had extremely strong armor. Lucia was fast and agile, but she could only dodge so much before she tired. She put up a good fight, but eventually was overcome by fatigue. She ran as hard as she could to better cover, but there was none to be found on the plain. The Greap followed her, seeming to realize that victory was close at hand.

A loud gunshot rang out. The Greap screeched, and a second blast, not quite as loud as the first, rang out. This time, it was a laser instead of a missile. She followed it, and saw two people, a young girl about her age, and a strong-looking adult man. The man fired another missile from the cannon-like device on his arm and the Greap fell with a loud screech. That was all Lucia saw before she blacked out.

You guys know the drill by now. Saw a murder, heard the message, blah blah blah. But this time it was Toon Link who appeared in front of her.

"_Hey, Lucia!" _the young boy said with a grin. Lucia smiled and waved. "No offense, Mr. Whoever-you-are, but why am I chosen?" Toon shrugged.

"_I dunno. Just go with it, I guess." _"Okay!" Lucia shouted with a little too much enthusiasm. The two who had killed the Greap ran up to her.

"You're one of the chosen?" the girl asked. "Cool! That means I'm not the only twelve-year-old here!" She did a little victory dance. If you guys haven't guessed yet, it was Coleman and R.O.S.E. who had saved her.

"I guess that means we should all head to the ruins," Coleman said. They began to do so, but Lucia was very tired. After all, she had just fought a Greap for nearly an hour. "Can we camp here?" she asked.

Coleman shook his head. "We need to keep going." R.O.S.E. rolled her eyes.

"Coleman, she just fought a Greap for who knows how long without one break. Besides, it's late. We should stop for a while." Coleman shook his head. Then Lucia decided to do what she best- getting what she wanted.

"Pweeaase?" she asked with her best puppy-dog eyes. Coleman finally broke. "Okay, we can camp here. But we leave first thing in the morning." The girls cheered while Coleman wondered how that had happened.

…..

**Yeah, I know Lucia's was a little short. I just really wanted to get this up. Don't forget to review! I'll come back to this after my ToD is updated. I'm doing one chapter of that, two chapters of this. Oh, and to those who keep telling me to update faster:**

**Chill out, okay? I'm using all my spare time to write already. Trust me, this story's not dying before I do. Don't forget to review!**


	5. No title this time

**I'M BAAAAAACK! Here's the next chapter!**

Gammic groaned. "Do you have _any _idea where you're going, Leon?" he asked the blonde teen.

"Of course I do!" Leon lied. In truth, he had absolutely no idea where he was going. All he had to go on was a simple direction from Ike and the faint memories of where the ruins were. Ike was no help, as whenever Leon attempted to speak to him, the mercenary would simply say, "Go south."

The teens had camped on the edge of the forest that night, and Gammic had been angry at Leon and Will since he had woken up. Why, you ask? Because of this…

_**Flashback…**_

Earlier that morning, Will had been the first to awake. He grinned as he realized this, and bent down to deliver Leon his revenge. As he inhaled to gain enough breath to yell, Leon woke up and quickly kicked Will hard in the shin.

"Ow! Ow-ow-ow-ow-ow-ow OW!" Will shouted while jumping up and down and clutching his leg. "Why is it always me who gets hurt?" Leon shrugged.

"Because you happen to be a bit of an idiot," he replied. Will was about to skewer the other boy when he remembered they still had to wake Hikari.

"So…Who's going to wake her up this time?" he asked. Then both teens noticed Gammic on the ground. They grinned and simultaneously said, "New guy." They quickly shook the unfortunate mage awake.

"Meh… What time is it?" he asked groggily. Leon shrugged. "I dunno. Why don't you go wake up Hikari?" Gammic scratched his head. "You sure she won't murder me?" Leon nodded, trying to keep a straight face. "Yeah, she's really peaceful."

"Okay then," Gammic replied, and walked over to the sleeping warrior. He kicked Hikari slightly in the side. Hikari's eyes snapped open, and she grabbed Gammic's leg. The mage attempted to scream, but he was silenced by his head slamming into the ground. Leon and Will were laughing their heads off, clutching their sides with tears of mirth running down their faces. They shut their mouths as soon as Hikari shot them the Evil Eye.

"Mph, mrnp girfd MRMPH!" Gammic shouted, the words muffled by the ground. This time even Hikari couldn't stop herself from laughing.

_**End Flashback…**_

As Leon was rethinking this, grinning as he did so, Hikari tapped him in the shoulder. "Dude, stop daydreaming. I think we've found something." Leon snapped out of it and looked where she was pointing. A tall, square building seemingly carved out of one piece of metal rose out of the ground. There were windows and vents, of course, but they were covered by rusted metal grills.

"How did we not notice that earlier?" Leon asked. Hikari shrugged. "More importantly, why the hell is it here?" The boys shrugged as well.

"Well," Will began. "First rule of adventuring: Investigate any and all suspicious buildings." The other teens rolled their eyes, but they approached the building anyway. However, as they drew close they realized that it was completely sealed off. A large sign across the door read, "CLOSED. KEEP OUT." Leon, Gammic, and Hikari sighed. "Well, we'd better keep going," Leon said. Now Will rolled his eyes.

"Second rule of adventuring: Always enter buildings that say "Keep out." Especially if it's in capital letters." Leon glared at him. "Well, how do you propose we get in, O Smart One?"

"Um, yes, well…"

"Like this," Hikari said, kicking one of the rusted grates so hard it fell off of the hinges. Leon muttered to Will, "How does she _do _this stuff?" Will just shook his head.

"You guys coming or what?" Hikari asked. Leon walked over. "So who's going first?" The others pointed at Leon. "Why me?" he asked.

"Because it was your idea to go this way anyway, so you should go in first," Gammic said. Leon glanced around. "Well, I think Will should go first."

"What! Why should I go into the freaky place?"

"Um… You're the tallest person?" Leon said desperately.

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"Well-"

"GUYS!" Hikari shouted. They both immediately looked at her. "Leon, you go first. It's a 3-to-1 majority vote. That means you go in." Leon swore under his breath, but he went in anyway.

"Man, this thing is freaking narrow!" He called back to the others. Will nodded to the others. "I think we should go in order of shortest to tallest now. First Hikari, then Gammic, and then me." Gammic glanced at him with narrowed eyes.

"You just want to go last, don't you?"

"Maybe a little."

Hikari rolled her eyes. "Whatever, let's just go." She followed Leon through the narrow vent, followed by Will and Gammic. After about five minutes of crawling through the vents, Leon's voice echoed through the shaft.

"Hey guys, I think I can see an opening up ahead!" Heartened by this news, the group increased their pace and quickly made it out of the vent, ending up in a narrow corridor only slightly larger than the vent itself. After they had brushed the dust off of their clothes, they formed a line in the narrow hallway. Leon was in the lead; his chain wrapped around one fist. Hikari was next, holding a glowing silver knife. Will was third, his knife drawn as well. Gammic brought up the rear, his right fist pulled back and glowing with dark energy.

As they began walking through the corridors, Gammic called up to Leon. "Uh, no offense, but wouldn't having a chain wrapped around your fist hurt?" Leon grinned. "Yeah, but it'll hurt them a lot more." Gammic supposed he couldn't argue with that.

They walked for quite a while, eventually ending up in a large room with cylindrical tubes shaped like half of a pill lining the outside of the room. They also noticed a teenager with long gray hair that reached his back inspecting the tubes. He was exactly five feet tall, looked around a hundred and thirty pounds, and wore a green camo T-shirt, jeans, grey shoes, and a blue headband. He also wore a holster with a pistol in it on his waist. He glanced at them as they walked in.

"Who are you guys?" he asked, going into a fighting stance.

"We could ask you the same question," replied Leon, doing the same. Gammic stepped between them. "Wait; let's not fight until we know who each other are." The gray-haired teen nodded and stepped forward. "I'm Jerid," he said, holding out his hand. "Leon," the blonde said, shaking hands with the boy. "This is Gammic, Hikari, and Will," he said, nodding to each in turn. Jerid shook hands with each of them.

"I hope you don't mind me asking," he began. "But why are you here?" Leon shrugged. "We're traveling to the ruins, and we thought this place looked strange, so we decided to check it out." Jerid nodded thoughtfully.

"The ruins, huh?" he grinned. "Are you, by any chance, chosen?" The group nodded.

"Yeah, I'm Wolf's chosen," Hikari said. "Leon is Ike's, Will is Link's, and Gammic is Ganondorf's. I'm guessing you're… Sonic's?" Jerid nodded again.

"Do you guys know how to get to the ruins?" he asked. Leon awkwardly scratched the back of his head. "Not exactly, no." Jerid grinned again.

"Fortunately, I do," he said.

…

Alex Jefferson, before I forget, looked like this: He had spiky black hair, was 5'6 and about 130 pounds, wore a purple hoodie, a black T-shirt, blue pants, white shoes, fingerless gloves, and a white chain around his neck.

Alex scribbled something out in his sketchbook. _"No, no, no!" _he thought. _"The light is coming off of the other side… There we go!"_ He smiled as he looked at his drawing. It was a clear and peaceful drawing of the light reflecting off of the lake. It was by far his best drawing yet. Suddenly, he felt a sharp pain in his head and his eyes fogged over. He saw a gruesome scene of Ike attempting to fight a mysterious and clearly deadly warrior. He saw Master Hand valiantly try to defend the mercenary, but being obliterated himself. And finally, he saw Crazy attempt to destroy the sadistic murderer, but managing only to stall him long enough to send a message to the smashers. He knew that the Lord of Shadows would be back, and that he would not rest until the entire world fell before him.

Alex awoke. _"Alex!" _Alex looked around. "What? Who said that? Show yourself!" he drew his sword. _ "Calm down!" _the voice said again. Now Alex was getting scared. Then a ghostly blue Marth appeared in front of him. _"Sorry Alex, but I had to do that. I hope I didn't scare you too badly. You okay?" _

"Um, I guess. No offense, but why are you here?" Alex asked. _"Because something terrible is happening." _Marth said._ "You saw that warrior, right? Well, he's trying to take over. And if he manages to do that, we're all screwed." _

"And where do I come in?" Alex asked. _"You need to get to the ruins. There you'll meet the other chosen, and there you'll find a way to defeat Espirus. After that- LOOK OUT!"_

Alex quickly drew his sword and turned, just in time to block an overhead slash from a Sword Primid. Twisting the blade, he swung it hard to the left, decapitating the Primid. Then he noticed that an army of Primids was quickly making its way towards him. "Shit," he muttered under his breath. He turned to run, and he noticed that a small group of teenagers were running towards him. Two young men, one that looked suspiciously like Pit, and one who's fists were blazing with fire. A teenage girl was also with them, carrying a bow and a sword tied to her waist.

As the group approached, the girl stopped, and in one smooth motion dropped to one knee, knocked an arrow, and shot down a Sword Primid. The boy with the flaming hands charged straight into the enemies, roaring a battle cry as he set fire to a legion of Primids. Finally, the boy with wings slashed at several Primids, cutting them to pieces. Alex smiled. _"Maybe I won't die today, after all,"_ he thought. He charged the Primids as well, using Dancing Blade to deal a large amount of damage and stunning several unsuspecting Primids.

"Let's get out of here!" shouted the girl. The boys nodded and sprinted as hard as they could. They didn't like running from a fight, but it would be suicide to face that many attackers. After they had gotten a ways away, they sat down to regain their breath. "So," Alex said. "Thanks for saving me." The other teens nodded. "I'm Alex, by the way."

"I'm Jake," said the angel.

"Nick," the pyro said.

"Lea," said the girl.

"You guys are chosen, right?" Alex asked. They nodded again.

"Yeah," said Jake. "I'm Pit's, as you probably guessed, Nick is Mario's, and Lea is Zelda's. I'm guessing you're Marth's, judging by that Dancing Blade attack." Alex nodded. The teens decided to camp there, too tired from the fight to travel.

…

**Blargh, short chapter. * Head desk head desk head desk * Why am I unable to write a long chapter? WHY? Well, since it's nearly Christmas, that means I must write a CHRISTMAS SPECIAL! YAYZ! And don't worry; I might still introduce a few OCs. For the most part, though, it'll be about Christmas. Oh, and I keep forgetting to say something: I've decided that you guys can make the OCs have crushes. It won't have a big impact on the story; it'll just be something that'll give it a little twist. There can also be OCxOC stuff, but there are rules to that:**

**1: Both authors must either agree, or if they do not respond, I'll just do it anyway. **

**2: NO YAOI/YURI STUFF! I will not write that. **

**Well, long author's note. See ya later!**


	6. Christmas Special Pt 1

**Hey, people! This chapter is part one of a two or three part Christmas Special. I was going to only do one, but I figured it'd be easier to make each group have their own share of Christmas epicness. That, and the fact that I've got about two weeks until Christmas. These chapters are mostly going to be humor, maybe some romance for those of you who submitted pairings. Without further ado, here's part one! **

"Hey, you know what I just remembered? " Gammic asked. "It's almost Christmas!" The other teens glanced at each other inside the largest room of the Iron Building, as they had named it. They had camped there because even though the heating system was shot, it was still well-insulated.

"Huh. Well, we've gotta do something for Christmas!" Will shouted enthusiastically. Hikari rolled her eyes.

"What the heck can we do? It's not like we can go to a store and buy presents or anything. There's not even a town within forty miles of here!"

"How about… Oh! Why don't we just go out and try to find something for a Christmas dinner?" Gammic asked. Leon nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, that's a good idea. I, for one, am tired of eating stale granola bars." Will frowned. "Hey, it's not like we have anything else to eat, y'know." Leon strapped Dark Aether and its sheath to his back and clipped his blaster to his chain.

"So let's go get some food," he said. Jerid yawned and said, "Well, I think some of us should stay here. No need for all of us to freeze, right?" Gammic nodded.

"I agree with the new guy. Two people can leave for food, and the others can stay here and try to find some water or something." Hikari shrugged.

"So how are we gonna choose?" Gammic took off his hat.

"Anybody got some paper?" Will pulled a small package of paper out of his pack. Leon raised his eyebrows. "Wow. You really came prepared, didn't you?" Will grinned. "What can I say? Boy Scout mentality, I guess."

Gammic took the paper and a pen that Will had provided and wrote everyone's names on it. Then he ripped them into strips and placed them inside his hat. Finally, he shuffled them up and pulled out two strips while closing his eyes. The names: Leon and Hikari.

Leon gulped loudly. "Uh… Could you draw again, Gammic?" he asked the mage nervously. Gammic smiled inwardly. "Sorry dude, that's it. No retakes." Hikari didn't say a word and simply headed for the door. Checking to make sure she wasn't looking, Leon gave Gammic the finger. Gammic simply grinned and waved.

_2 hours later…_

Leon and Hikari were, quite frankly, pissed. At first they had been excited at seeing the tracks in the new-fallen snow, but after 2 hours of walking and seeing no signs of the hare they had been tracking, they began to get angry.

"This is your fault," Hikari said, turning to Leon.

"_My _fault?" he asked indignantly. "How is this _my _fault?"

"Everyone within a ten-mile radius can hear you tramping through the woods! You probably scared the stupid thing away!"

"You're not exactly silent yourself! An elephant would make less noise!" As soon as the words left Leon's mouth he regretted them. He was suddenly pinned to a tree, a glowing blue sword blade pressed against his throat. Hikari stared angrily at him.

"Never say that again. You hear me? If you ever say that again I will rip your guts out and strangle you with them!" Leon could feel the sharp edge pressing into his throat. He kicked Hikari in the shin and quickly backed away, drawing Dark Aether. He held the weapon diagonally, the tip pointed at the ground and his left hand on the flat of the blade so as to block any oncoming strikes. The two warriors stared each other down, neither making a move. Finally Hikari sheathed her sword.

"This is getting us nowhere. I'll apologize if you do." She held out her hand. Leon reluctantly took it and they shook hands, both saying "I'm sorry," at the same moment. Leon sheathed his broadsword and they began to walk forward again. They walked in silence for a few minutes, neither even looking at each other. Eventually Leon broke the silence.

"For the record, I would've won." Hikari rolled her eyes. "Please. I would've ripped you to pieces."

"You couldn't have landed one shot!"

"Oh, and you would? In case you haven't noticed, I'm faster and stronger than you."

"Yeah right! You know how much Dark Aether weighs? This thing is like eighty pounds of metallic awesomeness!"

"And my sword is flipping magic! It glows, for crying out loud!"

"That thing is a freaking toothpick compared to Dark Aether!"

"Say that again, I dare you!"

"That thing is a-" Leon was interrupted by a loud rustling in the bushes. Suddenly a large pheasant shot out of the bushes. On instinct, Leon and Hikari both drew their blasters, aimed, and fired in one motion. The bird fell, two smoking craters in its chest. The two warriors glanced at each other.

"I got that one!" Hikari shouted.

"No, I did!"

And so it begins anew…

….

Back at the Iron Building, the 3 boys were attempting to find some water. Or _something _hydrating. Will stood up. "How do you think Leon's doing right now?" he asked Gammic. Gammic grinned at him.

"His carcass is probably on fire by now." Jerid glanced between them. "Why are you betting on Leon dying?" Will snorted.

"Have you _seen _Hikari? She'd kill anyone if they said something irritating." Jerid shrugged. "Granted, but I think Leon could hold his own against her." Will grinned.

"I bet five bucks that Hikari walks in here with Leon either dead or maimed."

"And I bet five bucks that they're both fine."

Gammic rolled his eyes. _'Why am I the only mature one in this group?' _he thought. Jerid and Will continued bickering, this time betting over which of them would win in a fight.

He glanced out one of the windows. _'Oh no…' _he thought. _'There's another storm coming. Not good.' _

….

"This sucks!" Lucia said. She, R.O.S.E., and Coleman were currently walking through a blizzard. Well, actually, Coleman was knocked out and R.O.S.E. was carrying his unconscious form. He'd been knocked out about ten minutes ago, with R.O.S.E. commenting that "Oh, that's great! No, that's really, really good! The heaviest member of the whole freaking group is knocked out during a freaking SNOWSTORM! HOW COULD THIS _POSSIBLY _GET ANY BETTER?"

Strangely enough, R.O.S.E. was strong enough to carry the large man on her own, not even struggling as she carried Coleman in a fireman's carry. Soon Coleman awoke, freaking out as he thought he was floating a few feet off the ground. Then R.O.S.E. promptly dropped him straight into the snow. Coleman grunted as he hit the ground. "Ow! Where are we?" Lucia shrugged.

"It's a snowstorm. How are we going to tell where the heck we are?" Coleman glared at her. "For such a little kid, you've got a big attitude, don't you?" Lucia gave him the "Angry Face", pouting and making her face turn red. Coleman backed away.

"What's with the scary chibi-face?" This did not help matters. Lucia's sword and shield appeared in her hands, and she held them expertly. Coleman raised his cannon arm, aiming for Lucia. R.O.S.E. stepped between them. "Children, children! Let's not fight! Lucia, try to lead the way with those weapons."

Lucia stuck her tongue out at the other girl, but she obeyed. R.O.S.E. turned to Coleman. "You've got a map, right?" Coleman nodded and pulled it out. "Good. Now try to find out where we are." Coleman frowned. "And what the heck are you going to do?" The girl grinned.

"Supervising." Coleman walked away, muttering something about taking orders from someone half his size.

….

The final group of chosen were far better off than Coleman, R.O.S.E., and Lucia. For one, they had found a large cave and were waiting out the storm there. Secondly, the fact that Nick could summon fire was coming in handy with the frigid climate. Lastly, Lea and Jake had shot a few rabbits on the way, providing food. However, then came the problem of who would skin the animals.

"I think Nick should do it," Jake said.

"No, you should do it!" the pyro yelled back.

"I'm the one who killed them! That's hard enough with Pit chewing me out the entire time!"

"I lit the fire!"

"You CONTROL fire!"

"BOTH OF YOU CALM DOWN!" shouted Alex. Both pyro and angel shut their mouths. "I'll do it, okay? I'm the only one who hasn't done anything, so I'll do it." The other guys nodded.

_5 minutes later…_

Alex was regretting his decision. _'Who would've thought rabbits were so disgusting?' _he thought, beginning to skin the second rabbit. He began to think about what they would've looked like, were they still alive. The thought that he was going to eat such an animal nearly made him puke. He glanced at the others. Nick was staring at the fire the entire time, grinning every time the flames grew larger. Jake was in a corner, twitching while muttering to himself. Alex assumed that he was arguing with Pit. Lea was standing in a corner of the cave, eyes closed. He sighed.

'_Looks like I'm the only one paying attention,' _he thought. After he had finally skinned the last rabbit, he gave them to Nick, who put them on a spit and began roasting them over the fire. Jake took one look at the creatures and ran outside to puke. Alex shook his head and watched the animals cook, relishing the smell. He took one last look outside.

'_The storm's getting worse…'_

….

**Yeah, I know I didn't introduce any new OCs this time. I promise I will next time though! Is it just me, or is the idea of getting caught in a snowstorm a bit cliché? I'd appreciate any criticism you guys give me in the reviews! …Please? *Puppy-dog eyes* Just keep in mind that there's a difference between criticism and flames. Next chapter will be longer, I promise! See ya! **


	7. Christmas Special Pt 2

**Here we are at part 2! This part will have a lot more drama than the last one. Okay, people, there are NO SPOTS LEFT! NO MORE OCS, THANK YOU! Seriously, this story tires me out. **

Vincent shook his head rapidly. _'Damn snow!' _he thought. Vince (That's what I'm calling him, Vincent takes too long to type.) was about 157 centimeters tall, (I don't actually know how tall that is) and around 120 pounds. He had brown, shaggy hair, small blue eyes, and a lightning bolt tattoo on his left cheek. He wore a yellow T-shirt, black jeans, and blue sneakers. Vince vaguely wondered why he didn't just turn into a wolf and stop freezing to death out here. He couldn't help but remember how he gotten into this mess in the first place.

_**Flashback…**_

Vince then ten years old, sprinted into his room and slammed the door. He huddled into a small corner of the room, one eye black and blood flowing from his nose. He allowed himself to cry for the first time since the beating had begun; knowing that if he had earlier he would have been beat to oatmeal. He still didn't understand why _he _was blamed for everything wrong with his father's life.

He lifted his head slightly. Today would be when it ended. Anything was better than being afraid to enter his own home, afraid to even speak to his parents, lest he be ripped apart.

He quickly put together a package with some food and a little bottle of water. Vince opened the bedroom window as wide as it could go and jumped out. He then jumped off of the roof into the branches of a nearby tree. After he climbed down from the high branches and landed on the ground, he looked back at the home where he had spent his entire life in fear. He sprinted away, swearing under his breath to never go back.

….

A week later, he was out of water, out of food, and out of money. He wandered in the alley where he had spent the week looking for food. Nothing new, just an old dumpster, a few muddy puddles of water, a blue humanoid falcon, a box of old games- Wait, what? He looked back again to make sure he wasn't dreaming. Sure enough, there really was a blue, human-sized falcon standing straight up, a blaster hung on its belt, along with many other futuristic tools.

He couldn't deny his curiosity, so he slowly approached the being.

"Wh-Who are you?" he asked hesitantly. The bird turned to him. "Who are _you, _kid?" Vince stood up.

"I'm Vincent," he said, holding out his hand." "What's your name?" The bird walked forward.

"Me? I'm Falco, the best Arwing pilot in the universe!" The bird said, striking a pose. At Vince's raised eyebrow he sighed and shook the boy's hand.

"Why the heck is a little kid like you wandering around a place like this?" the large falcon asked. Vince shrugged.

"I ran away from home," he said. Falco raised a nonexistent eyebrow.

"Why?"

"You wouldn't believe me…"

"Kid, I'm a falcon who flies a starship for crying out loud. How much weirder can it get?" Vince sighed and pointed to his still swollen eye.

"My dad did this," he said. Falco winced. _'Ouch. And I thought _I_ had it bad.' _

"Did, uh… Did he do this multiple times?" Vince nodded.

"Yeah. He even broke my arm a couple times."

Falco shook his head. "Holy cow. How long have you been out on the street?" Vince shrugged.

"A week, give or take." Falco scratched the back of his head. _'Well, I can't just leave him here… But what the hell am I gonna do?' _

"Uh, tell you what, kid: You can come with me," Falco said. Vince's face lit up.

"Seriously? That'd be awesome!" Vince cheered a little.

"Woah, kid, you know you're gonna have to work, right? You gotta help me with everything." Vince nodded.

"Yeah, I know. I promise I'll be good!" Falco sighed.

"Come on then," he said, and led the boy to his Arwing.

_**End Flashback…**_

Vince smiled at the memory. Some of the work had been hard, sure, but usually it had just been cleaning Arwings and things like that. Pretty easy, all things considered. Not to mention the fact that he had learned how to pilot Arwings and fire a blaster. But then Falco had left along with Fox for somewhere called the Smash Mansion. And yesterday, Falco had appeared to him saying something about fighting the Lord of Shadows.

He kept walking in the same direction for a few hours, lost in his memories, but then he began to hear blaster fire in the distance. At first he had thought it was just his memories, but Vince saw explosions on the horizon.

The teen sprinted for the sounds. Sure enough, there really was blaster fire, explosions, and even the loud clangs of metal upon metal. A group of three people, two young girls and one man, were fighting a large, two-sided robot.

Yep, Duon.

The three fighters were doing relatively well, considering Duon's size. The smallest girl was jumping around the robot's head, throwing bombs and slashing with her small sword. The man would stand a few feet away from Duon, firing missiles and using a plasma whip to distract the robot from the smallest member of the group. The final member of the group, a teenage girl, was firing a blaster at Duon and occasionally driving a few hard kicks to one of the robot's heads.

Vince grinned and charged the robot, his gloves sparking with electricity. As he neared the beast, he jumped and fired a small burst of lightning toward it. The robot barely flinched. Vince scowled at the boss. A yellow aura of fire enveloped him. Shaking with the force of the attack, he yelled "FIRE!" and was sent rocketing toward Duon. The beast turned to him, the pink side first, and fired a group of bombs at the teen. Vince managed to dodge backwards out of the way, and the small girl, who had been jumping around Duon, quickly pointed her sword down on the boss's head and allowed gravity to take over. The momentum of the attack, plus the razor-sharp tip of the sword, was enough to finish the robot off.

Duon roared and exploded into a flood of Shadow Bugs. The small girl smiled and her sword and shield disappeared in a flash of light. The man blew smoke from his cannon-like gauntlet and the teenage girl simply holstered her blaster.

"Well, that was fun," the man said. He turned to Vince. "You fight pretty well, kid. What's your name?"

"Vincent," Vince said. "But you can call me Vince so that SkullRising doesn't smash his computer after typing the name twenty times a chapter."

"Uh…What?" Suddenly a lightning bolt struck Vince. A note fell from the sky into his hand, reading:

_No breaking the Fourth Wall. _

Vince stood up, slightly charred. He shook his fist at the sky. "Curse you, Author!" A large arrow the size of a tree slammed into the ground next to Vince, a note tied to it.

_I can make this bigger. And next time I won't miss. _

Vince gulped. "Uh, never mind!" The arrow disappeared. The man made a WTF face.

"I'm not even going to question that… Anyway, my name's Coleman, Coleman Franchek."

The girls walked forward. "I'm Rachel Ocada Selrina Estain," said the taller one. "But you can call me R.O.S.E. And this is Lucia," she said, pointing to the smaller girl.

"Hi!" Lucia said, waving rapidly. Vince awkwardly waved back. "Um… Hi?"

"So," Coleman began. "Judging by those attacks, I'm guessing you're a chosen, right?" Vince nodded.

"Yep. Falco's, to be exact." Coleman nodded.

"I'm Samus' chosen, Lucia is Toon's, and R.O.S.E. is R.O.B.'s." Vince scratched the back of his head.

"Hey, uh… When you found out you were chosen, did you guys faint too?" The others nodded. R.O.S.E. smirked.

"Yeah. Coleman passed out during a snowstorm." Coleman glared at her.

"Did you really need to bring that up?" he asked.

"Yes, yes I did." Coleman sighed and began walking through the heavy snow. The others followed him. Vince shook his head, smiling a little. At least there would never be a dull moment with these guys.

…

"I _hate _the cold," Luna said, rubbing her shoulders. "Nothing good ever comes from it, just dead plants and frozen fingers."

"Oh, cool it, Sparky," said her friend and companion Princess Dreygon. Strange name, sure, but nearly everyone in this story has a strange name. "It's not like ranting about the cold is gonna do any good." Luna continued to mutter under her breath.

Drey (Long names make me ANGREH!) rolled her eyes. Now I will describe the girls so that you potential reviewers do not get angry and yell at me for lack of detail. Drey was 5'6 and looked around 114 pounds. She had waist-length, dark blonde hair and wore a crown that looked vaguely like Zelda's, other than the fact that a white stone carrying a dragon carving was set into it. She wore a short blue dress and knee-high leather boots, with a thin dragon bone sword hanging at her side.

Luna, or Sparky, was 5'5 and looked around 120 pounds. She had blonde hair and blue eyes, and was casually dressed in a T-shirt, jeans, and yellow converse. She carried no visible weapons, other than a leather belt around her waist. Back to story now so that I don't get yelled at for too much detail.

The two girls (and chosen, as those of you who were paying attention most likely guessed) simply continued walking through the snow-dusted forest undergrowth. After about an hour of walking, tripping, swearing, complaining, and shouting at the heavens for some source of warmth, both of the girls were tired and quite pissed. Eventually Dreygon spoke up.

"I swear, if we don't find some shelter from this DAMN SNOW in the next twenty minutes, I will personally set off a bomb and blow this whole freaking place SKY HIGH!" Luna nodded.

"I'll join you. This place is getting on my-"

"CAVE!" shouted Drey as she barreled past the other teen. Of course, when Luna looked, there was a large cave jutting out of the ground and likely leading deep underground. Better yet, there was light coming from the mouth of the cave.

The girls sprinted for the cave, filled with energy at the prospect of a warm fire and a cave to spend the night. Two figures stepped out from the mouth of the structure, not too much taller than them. As they neared the opening they realized that the figures were one male and one female, both teenagers. Both of them drew slender swords and held them in a ready stance, clearly preparing for any kind of attack.

Drey and Luna kept running, intoxicated by the thought of warmth. The teens at the cave opening frowned and did something that most would not think possible. The girl drew one arm back and held it open, a small fire coming to life in her palm. The boy drew his sword back so that the butt of the weapon touched his shoulder and a small purple light glowed at the tip, sparking with deadly energy.

Drey and Luna stopped. Drey began to draw her weapon, but Luna stopped her.

"I think they're chosen. We should try to talk to them." Drey nodded sadly, seeming to be disappointed that she didn't get to kill anyone. Luna turned to the teens at the cave.

"Hold it! Are you chosen?" The teens relaxed and nodded. Luna smiled. "So are we! We finally found someone!" Drey and Luna walked over to the cave and stood in front of the two teens.

"Come on inside," the boy said. "There are two others besides us here. Name's Alex, by the way." The girl nodded. "And I'm Lealonna. Most people just call me Lea."

The chosen entered the cave and noticed two other boys. One sat by the fire, grinning at the flames, and another who seemed to have black angel wings sat on a rock, sharpening two large black daggers. At the entrance of the other teens, the boy with the daggers connected the hilts together, revealing it to be a darker version of Palutena's Bow, the weapon used by the angel Pit.

Luna waved at them. The pyro stood up. "I guess you guys are chosen, right? I mean, no one else would be wandering around here at this time of year." Drey nodded.

"Yeah," she replied. "I'm Dreygon, also known as Drey, and this is Luna."

"Some people call me Sparky," Luna said with a small smile. The angel boy raised an eyebrow.

"Sparky?" he asked. "Why Sparky?" Luna grinned and gathered a small ball of electricity in her hand.

"That's why." The boy nodded appreciatively. "Cool. Anyway, my name's Jake and I'm Pit's chosen. The pyro over there is Nick, and he's Mario's chosen." Nick waved. Alex came forward.

"I'm Marth's chosen," he said calmly. "Lea is Zelda's. What about you guys?" Luna smiled again.

"I'm Pikachu's chosen, and Drey here is Peach's." Nick snickered.

"Peach? Seriously? Man, you must have the worst luck!" He continued snickering until Drey hit him over the head with a frying pan. "OW! Where the hell did you get that?" Drey shrugged.

"Same place Peach gets it from."

"And that would be where?"

"…You know, I'm not really sure."

….

Leon and Hikari were actually doing pretty well, food-wise. Not-freezing-to-death-wise, not so much. They'd been out in the cold for several hours, trying to find food. So far they'd gotten three pheasants and a small deer. Leon carried the meat, having agreed after being "persuaded" to do so.

The snow blew hard into their faces like a million tiny blades of ice. It was getting so bad that they could hardly hear each other over the wind.

"I don't think we're gonna get back to the others any time soon!" shouted Leon over the snow. "We should find some shelter before we freeze out here!"

"For once, I agree with you!" Hikari shouted back. "I think I can see a cave up ahead! Follow me!" Leon did so, knowing that she probably had better eyesight than he did. After about a hundred yards, the structure came into view. It was up on a small ledge jutting out from the cliffs that lined the west side of the valley and looked large enough for several people. Hikari was already at the mouth of the cave, tapping her foot impatiently.

"What took you so long?" she asked Leon as he entered the cave. He put the meat down and turned to her.

"Like I said, Dark Aether here weighs about eighty pounds. Add the seventy pounds of meat I was carrying and you get your answer." Hikari just rolled her eyes.

"Oh, come on. It can't be that heavy." Leon unstrapped Dark Aether and its sheath from his back.

"Catch," he said, throwing the weapon to her. Hikari buckled under the weight. Quickly standing back up, she handed Dark Aether to Leon.

"That thing's more than eighty pounds." Leon raised an eyebrow.

"It is? Guess that shows how bad I am at guessing." Hikari's jaw dropped.

"You don't know how much your weapon actually weighs? That's a stupid thing for a warrior to do. If you don't know how much it weighs, you don't know how it balances." Now it was Leon's turn to roll his eyes.

"Oh, really? And do you know how much yours weighs?"

"Actually, I do. It weighs 40.28 pounds exactly." Leon raised his eyebrows.

"Okay, I stand corrected. How much do you think Dark Aether weighs?"

"I'd say at least a hundred and ten."

"Woah."

"Yeah." Hikari sat down. Leon noticed that she was shivering severely and her mouth had turned blue. He mentally face palmed himself. Of course she was cold! I mean, she had been out in subzero weather in a tank top for nearly seven hours, and no matter how tough she was, that would be insanely cold. He quickly took off his jacket and put it around her shoulders. Hikari looked at him.

"I'm not cold, Leon," she said stubbornly.

"That's a load of crap and you know it."

"I'm _not _cold!"

"You were just out in subzero weather for seven hours wearing a tank top. Doesn't matter how tough you are, you're probably freezing nearly to death."

"…Okay, so maybe I am cold. But still, you need your jacket." Leon smirked.

"Hey, if you can take the cold, so can I."

"We're probably gonna be here all night, Leon. You can't take it that long." Leon sat down in a corner of the cave.

"Doesn't mean I won't try," he replied. Hikari rolled her eyes and sat down next to him. She took off the jacket and put it around both of their shoulders. Leon tried hard not to blush.

"There. Now we'll both be warm." She settled against the wall of the cave. "Nothing else to do but wait. I'm gonna get some sleep. Wake me up when the storm settles down." At Leon's worried look, she replied, "Don't worry, this time I won't try to kill you." She closed her eyes and went silent.

Leon looked around at the cave_. 'Well, I guess it could've been worse,' _He thought. He looked back at Hikari, sleeping soundly. _'A lot worse.' _

….

**Holy cow, did I really just write that? Did I, SkullRising, actually write romance? …Man, I must be losing it. I'd appreciate any criticism you guys give me! Merry Christmas, everybody. **


	8. Christmas Special Pt 3

**Okay, I made a mistake last time. I miscounted the smashers. There are actually 2 spots left. My apologies to those who were disappointed. I need one for the Ice Climbers and one for King DDD. Completely my fault, feel free to beat me with a baseball bat in anger of my epic fail. Or don't, and give me an "I'm sorry you failed" cake with chocolate and vanilla ice cream as a topping, which I would prefer. And before I forget, thank you to RJ49er for helping me with this. Onto the chapter! **

Leon awoke with a start. He quickly glanced around the cave where he and Hikari had rested for the night. His eyes eventually came to rest on Hikari, her head resting on his shoulder. Then he remembered something.

'_Oh, crap,'_ he thought. _'I was supposed to wake her up when the storm was over! I must've fallen asleep.' _He looked toward the entrance of the cave, seeing light pouring through the opening. Leon began to stand up slowly so as to not disturb Hikari, who would probably rip his arms off.

He went to the side of the cave where Dark Aether lay, the deadly sharp weapon still in its sheath. As he bent down to pick it up, he felt a slight pressure on his left temple.

"What the (BEEP) are you doing in my cave?" asked a young male voice, the swear word censored by a video game-like beeping noise.

"_Your _cave?" Leon asked, not daring to move.

"Yes, my cave, you (BEEP)er! Why the (BEEP) are you in my cave?" Leon was beginning to get annoyed with this guy. Before he could give him a piece of his mind however, the thug let out a loud "Ooof!" and the pressure left his head. Leon quickly picked up Dark Aether and looked back where the thug had been a moment earlier. The guy was on the floor with Hikari keeping her weapon a hair's breadth from his throat.

The thug was rather thin and scrawny and dressed in a grey hoodie and black jeans. He carried a pistol in each hand, likely the source of the aforementioned pressure. Dark brown hair pressed out from under the hood of his hoodie (Not my most poetic line, I must admit.) and over the edge of his black sunglasses.

"Sounds like he got owned again," said a male voice from outside the cave.

"I knew we shouldn't have let him go in first," said another voice, this one feminine. The male sighed.

"All right, let's see what got him this time." Two teenagers walked through the entrance of the cave. The male was 5'11, with black hair, blue eyes, and two black wings growing out of his back. He was casually dressed in a graphic tee, jeans, and sneakers. Two katanas were sheathed crossed on his back. Hikari raised her eyebrows at the sight. The teen noticed.

"You're wondering about the wings, right?" he asked.

"No, I'm wondering how you're not frozen," Hikari replied, shaking her head. "How did you not freeze to death?" The guy grinned.

"Like this," he said, and folded the large wings so that they covered everything from his knee to his neck.

"Nice," Leon said. Now I must describe the other new person or the reviewers will be angry at me. The female was 5'4 and lean. She had waist-length brown hair and brown eyes. She wore a light green shirt, white pants, green sneakers, and a white collar that held a gold locket. Now back to the story that happened to be going on at that moment in time and now I am rambling so I will shut up because no one wants to read my epic rambling of not-epicness.

"So," the guy on the ground said. "Can you let me up?" Leon stroked his chin.

"Promise not to shoot us?" The thug nodded vigorously.

"Yeah, yeah, I won't shoot you! Just let me up without slitting my throat!" Leon sighed.

"Fine. But just in case…" Leon pulled the two pistols from the guy's hands. "Now you can get up."

The thug shakily stood up. "There. Can I have my guns back now?" Leon sighed.

"I suppose so." He began to hand over the weapons, but Hikari stopped him.

"Leon, give me those for a second."

"Um… Okay, Hikari." Hikari grinned as she took the weapons, one in each hand. She turned to the thug.

"Do you want these back?" she asked. The thug nodded. "Then say that you suck."

"What? Oh, come on!"

"Do it."

"Why? Can I please just have my guns back?"

"Only if you say that you suck."

The thug turned to the new guy. "C'mon, Chris, can you make her give 'em back?" The winged boy, now identified as Chris, shook his head.

"We told you not to go in guns blazing, but you did anyway. You gotta get yourself out of this one." The thug turned to the girl.

"Asima? Will you help?" the girl shook her head as well.

"Like Chris said, you got yourself in, now you've gotta get yourself out. Plus I think this is funny."

Hikari smiled evilly. "Well, say you suck."

"Fine. You suck." This remark earned him two swift kicks to the groin; one from Hikari, one from Leon. The thug fell to the ground with tears streaming out his eyes.

"Say it," Hikari repeated.

"I suck," the thug said weakly, still rolling on the floor from the two extremely accurate blows.

Asima couldn't help but remark laughingly, "Hikari and Leon used Low Kick! It's super effective!" Everyone other than the guy on the ground laughed. The thug was too busy groaning in pain to even swear at them.

After the guy had recovered from the… eh… critical hit, Leon asked, "So, you guys are chosen, right?" The new guys nodded. He turned to the thug. "What's your name?"

"I'm William D. Gunpoint," he replied with a salute. "But you can call me Bob."

Leon raised an eyebrow. "Bob? Why Bob?"

"Because I like Bob."

"Okay then… Who's your smasher?"

"Mr. Game-and-Watch for the win!" Chris rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, Bob's a little spazzy," he said, blocking a punch from said psychopath. "I'm Meta Knight's chosen, and Asima is Red's. That beeping sound you probably heard earlier is Mr. G&W's game noise. It's actually kinda funny when he goes on a rant."

"Red?" Hikari asked.

"Y'know, the Pokémon Trainer?" Asima said, slightly insulted that she didn't know.

"Oh, him," Hikari replied without noticing the indignant tone. "Well, I'm Wolf's chosen and Leon is Ike's."

"We actually have some friends who are chosen, too," Leon added. Bob raised his eyebrows.

"Really? Where are they?" he asked. Leon shrugged.

"At this place we call the Iron Building a couple miles away."

"Big, square-shaped thing? No windows?" Bob asked. Leon nodded, and Bob grinned. "I know the place! It's exactly 4.283 miles to the east. I can get us there!"

"Are you sure?" Hikari asked, suspecting that he knew absolutely nothing about the place.

"'Course I can! I'm an expert navigator, y'know." Hikari looked at Asima for confirmation.

"He's telling the truth," she replied. Chris nodded.

"Yeah, Bob sucks at a lot of things- and I mean a _lot _of things- but he's actually a really good navigator."

"I'm not sure whether I should be grateful or (BEEP)ed off at that comment," Bob said/beeped with a scowl.

Leon sighed. "Whatever, let's just go already." The other teens agreed, Leon and Chris dividing the meat between them, and began to follow Bob out into the snow.

….

Half an hour of hairpin turns, swearwords, tripping, (BEEP)ing, and threatening to beat each other with sticks later, they were beginning to doubt Bob. To make matters worse, they had come across a Nagragog.

Nagragogs were rather short and easy to defeat; if you could manage to avoid getting hit, that is. A Nagragog appeared as a small, blue, doll-like animal. However, as they took damage they would grow into a much larger yellow form at the earliest opportunity. If hurt even more, they would become their largest red form, easily fifteen feet tall. Nagragogs could be easily defeated by a group if the group members were not hit. If they were, the Nagragog would grow to its red form and be much harder to defeat.

As they neared the monster, the group stopped.

"Alright, guys, we need a plan," Hikari said. "I think we should-"

"CHAAAAARRGE!" roared Leon as he and Bob rushed the Nagragog. Leon dropped the meat he was carrying, quickly drew Dark Aether and slashed at the monster while Bob dropped to one knee and unleashed a barrage of pistol fire. Chris dropped his load and he and Asima sprinted to them and began to surround the Nagragog along with Leon. Hikari shook her head but ran to them anyway.

As Chris and Asima neared the beast, Chris drew his two katanas- the pitch-black Umbra and the pure white Solstice. Asima drew from her scabbard a long thin sword covered in white rhombuses and with two chains wrapped 'round the hilt. She struck repeatedly at the monster while Chris and Hikari jumped as high as they could and unfurled their wings. They flew high above the Nagragog and then dropped, Hikari slashing straight downward with her glowing blue weapon and Chris delivering a two-pronged strike at the beast from above.

The Nagragog was near death from the onslaught of the five young warriors, but it was not yet beaten. It swung out its small arms like a windmill while Bob reloaded his pistols, buying enough time for it to grow to the size of a large man and finally into the fifteen-foot tall monster it truly was. It body-slammed the four attacking it at close range, and drove a massive fist directly into Bob's face.

The young man was sent sprawling, but he suddenly turned completely black and began to grow. He began to morph, his face turning into that of an octopus and his limbs turning to tentacles. Four more of these new limbs sprouted from his body, turning him into the picture of a giant octopus whose size rivaled even Galleom. The being that had been Bob seemed to grin.

"OH, YEAH, IT'S TENTACLE RAPE TIME!"

Leon managed to get to his feet and made a disgusted face. "Dude, you are the sickest person I've ever met." The being seemed to shrug and turned to combat the Nagragog.

The giant octopus quickly jabbed one appendage at the beast and then grabbed it by the throat with another. It hurled the monster into the trees, uprooting several and scarring the earth. The Nagragog got shakily to its feet and hurled one last, feeble punch at the octopus, but Bob caught the blow almost lazily and drove another appendage into the beast's face, sending it sprawling to the ground. The Nagragog died with a screech as it dissolved back into the Shadow Insects from which it had been born.

The other chosen gazed with open mouths at Bob (That actually doesn't sound as epic as I'd hoped.).

"What the hell was that?" Asima asked, bringing to light what they had all been thinking. Bob seemed to smile again.

"Mr. G&W did that. But I think this is my only chance to use it for a while; he says that to do it more than once would require a Smash Ball."

"So, what are you waiting for?" Leon asked, picking up the pheasant and deer meat. "Change back already. That thing creeps me out." The beast that was Bob grinned.

"I can't yet. I guess I'm stuck as a tentacle monster for a while… Hmmm…" he gazed strangely over in Hikari and Asima's direction.

"Don't even think about it, Squidface," Hikari said.

"Sorry."

….

Another half hour of walking later, Bob had changed back and they could see the Iron Building in the distance.

"We're almost there!" Bob said enthusiastically. The other teens nodded and simply kept walking. As soon as they reached the abandoned building, a teen in purple robes walked out. He grinned as he recognized Hikari and Leon and shouted, "Hey, Jerid, Will! They're back!"

The mage turned to the newcomers. "There you guys are! We were getting worried about you. Well, Will and I were. Jerid kept saying that you guys were fine and that you'd come back with some good food too. Hey, did you know that Will was betting on Leon not even coming back alive? Jerid said you'd be fine but Will said that Hikari would… Actually I can't even say what he said would happen because I don't think people should use that sort of language. Hey, did you know that-"

"Gammic, just shut up already," Leon said. The taller teen grinned.

"Sorry about that, I tend to ramble." He turned to Bob, Chris, and Asima. "I'm Gammic, by the way. And you are?"

"Chris," the winged boy said.

"I'm Asima, nice to meet you," said Red's chosen.

"I'm William D. Gunpoint," began Bob. "But you can call me Bob."

"Really, Bob?" Gammic asked. "Wouldn't Bill make more-" he was cut off by one of the thug's pistols jabbing into his throat.

"Bob."

"Okay, okay! Bob it is!"

An extremely tall teen carrying a sword came to the large doorway. He smiled when he saw the arrivals. "Hey, you're back! Guess I owe Jerid ten bucks."

"Speaking of Jerid, where is he?" Hikari asked. Will tapped his foot awkwardly.

"Erm, yeah, funny story about that…" Suddenly the silver-haired teen sprinted by the doorway screaming, "Ufhhbherfhu!" They heard a loud clang and the screaming stopped. Hikari glared at Will.

"Well, see, we found some water and even some preservative-loaded food still in the fridges, but we also found some sugar and, well, you fill in the rest," the blonde said awkwardly. Leon face palmed.

"Let's just go inside and get out of this cold. We got some food, so we can finally have that Christmas dinner." The other chosen nodded and went inside.

….

Hundreds of miles away, a spy sprinted through the dark corridors of the Battleship Midnight. The faint shadow stopped in front of the door at the end and gulped. He desperately hoped that he wasn't wrong or misinformed. To tell a lie to Lord Espirus was certain death. All aboard the Battleship Midnight were shadows, save for Lord Espirus and his head guards, but Lord Espirus possessed power that could end a shadow's existence forever.

The rat like shadow gulped once more and pushed the heavy door open with a faint creak and entered the red-tinted room. The room was designed to make one feel as small as possible, the three thrones at one end of the room high above the ground. Two small, empty thrones sat on either side of a larger one, plain red iron with no decorations. They were slightly higher up than the center throne, but only half the size.

The middle throne was large and, in a way, ornate. That is if you find bloodied skulls, bones, and poisoned spikes ornate. An armored figure lounged in it, admiring the shine of his oversized sword in the red iron room. The dragon's head helmet turned toward the spy, revealing the glowing red eyes and sadistic, razor-sharp toothed grin of the Lord of Shadows, Espirus.

"What news do you have, imp?" the swordsman asked in a deep, gravelly voice.

"M-milord, I bring news of the Children of Prophecy," the small shadow said with a stutter. Espirus sat straight in his throne now with rapt attention.

"And what news, pray tell, would that be? Spit it out, imp, or I'll rip the words from your throat!" The imp gulped and spoke again.

"The Children of Prophecy have been located, Milord, and we are ready to send troops to destroy them at your word." Espirus' grin widened.

"Good. Very, very good. Watch them closely, and report back to me whenever they stop to rest."

"M-milord, one group of eight children has stopped to rest, and they seem prepared to relax and rest. One of them bears the mark of a Demon. Should I dispatch troops to destroy them, Milord?" At this Espirus' eyebrows rose.

"No. I will send troops myself soon enough, along with one of my commanders. Do not kill them, but keep an eye on the one with the mark. We will need them soon enough." Espirus threw back his head and laughed. Soon he would stomp out this minor threat, and the way would be free to conquer all worlds.

….

**Whew! I got it done! Again, thanks to RJ49er for helping me with part of this. Next update should be… Let's say January 14****th****. I have to update my other story, so that's why. R&R, see ya later, and all that jazz. **

**Happy 2012, everyone!**


	9. In the Dead of the Night

**Now, before you potential reviewers yell at me, I know I didn't make my deadline. I was busier than I thought I'd be, and some unforeseen problems arose. (Mainly my computer crashing… Multiple times…) Also, I'm gonna try a new writing strategy, tell me if it worked or whether it sucked. Or if you noticed at all XD. Now, onto the chapter we go!**

Coleman sneezed for the umpteenth time that night. He was beginning to wonder why he'd agreed to take the first watch. He glanced around the group's campsite on the edge of the forest, and at the other chosen. The younger members were all sleeping soundly. Well, the girls were. Vince was snoring like a chainsaw being used to unclog Ridley's toilet.

Wait, scratch that; he sounded like a chainsaw being used to unclog _Wario's _toilet. Have fun thinking about that.

Anyway, Coleman was freezing his butt off outside. Sure, they had lit a fire, but most of the firewood was wet and difficult to burn, making the flames weak and small. But despite his harsh appearance and attitude, he didn't have the heart to make the younger members lose their sleep. He was seriously considering taking a nap when a loud crashing followed by a harsh cackle startled him from his stupor.

Rushing to the edge of the campsite, Coleman quickly raised his cannon-like gauntlet. He stepped back slightly as he found the source of the crash: Primids. The Primids were slowly approaching, zombielike in the way they walked.

Before they could see him, Coleman ducked back into the camp and quickly kicked the others awake, having no time to be nice.

"Ow!" R.O.S.E. cried out as the large man's foot collided with her ribs.

"Quiet!" Coleman whispered quickly. He pointed at the approaching horde, the Primids coming ever closer to the sleeping warriors. R.O.S.E. quickly sprang up and whipped out her blaster. Coleman began charging a blast in his gauntlet.

"You wake the others; I'll see if I can't hold these guys off for a while," he said, and charged into the sea of monsters. R.O.S.E. kicked Vince hard in the face and, leaving him screaming on the ground, went over to Lucia and shook her awake.

"Get up!" she said quickly. Vince slowly got to his feet with a black eye and a scowl, but Lucia still lay on the ground.

"Mph… Five more minutes, mom, please…" she muttered sleepily. Under normal circumstances it would have seemed cute, but there was no time for such things.

"C'mon, kid, you gotta get up," Vince said. Lucia muttered again, but just turned over and went back to sleep.

"Desperate times call for desperate measures," R.O.S.E. said with a sigh. She quickly pulled out her blaster and muttered, "Sorry about this…" and fired a quick blast at Lucia's foot. The young girl sprang up, clutching her foot.

"Ow! Okay, okay, I'm up, I'm up!" Lucia shouted.

"Good. Now get your weapons; we've got company," Vince said while gesturing to the Primids. Lucia nodded and closed her eyes for a moment. When she opened them, her sword and shield were in her hands.

"Let's go help Coleman," R.O.S.E. said, and without another word charged at the horde. Vince and Lucia did the same, Vince's gloves sparking with electricity and Lucia raising her small weapons with determination in her eyes.

When he neared the monstrosities, Vince leapt up and launched a flying kick to the throat of an oncoming Primid. As he landed, he dropped to his knees and lashed out with a sweep kick. As the Primids began to surround him he stretched out his arms and spun on the balls of his feet, creating miniature electrified whirlwind and sending electrical energy into the surrounding foes. The Primids, either stunned or vanquished, fell back, allowing the teen to move forward.

R.O.S.E. was no slacker in fighting either. Considerably faster than Vince, she delivered lightning-quick kicks, jabs, and blasts from her weapon. Her blaster was of little use here; shooting an enemy at close range would be disastrous as the blast could very well explode in her face. So, she improvised. Tossing her blaster into the air, she caught it by the barrel and used to pistol whip her foes. Jumping from tree to tree, she avoided most of the combat while occasionally dropping from her position to create a dent in the horde.

Even Lucia would not hold back against the monsters. The small girl blocked multiple punches and other blows with her shield. To defeat her enemies, she dropped to one knee, raised her shield with her left hand and her sword with the right, and when a Primid punched, she would block the attack and while the enemy was stunned she would stab at them with her small weapon. She could only advance slowly, but the tactic worked and the Primids, not being very intelligent, simply attacked in the same way, walking straight forward and hurling punches.

The three chosen regrouped farther into the woods and quickly climbed a taller tree to rest.

"Where the hell is Coleman?" Vince asked. R.O.S.E. scanned the forest.

"I think I can see him over there," she said, pointing to the east. Explosions sent ear-popping sound waves through the air, and red and yellow mushroom clouds lit up the night sky.

"Yep, that's Coleman alright," Vince said with a smirk. "Let's go help him before he gets himself killed." With that the three shimmied down the trunk of the tall tree and continued forward, avoiding as much conflict as possible. As they progressed farther into the heavily wooded area, the explosions grew louder, along with the strong scents of charred wood and gunpowder.

Suddenly Vince stopped. "What's that sound?" he muttered to the girls.

"It's an explosion, genius," Lucia said cheekily.

"Not that!" Vince replied. "There's this other sound, kinda like a creepy laugh." Sure enough, there was an unearthly cackle, often followed by explosions or eerie slicing sounds. "Come on," Vince said, and sprinted hard for the noise.

Soon they reached a clearing. Well, it was clear of trees. Primids? Not so much. Coleman stood in the middle, blasting Primids left and right. Any that got within three feet were promptly clubbed with his gauntlet or sliced with his Bowie knife. The cackling steadily increased and became much more frequent. They noticed flames springing up from the edge of the clearing, and then found the source of the cackling.

A fiery orange-haired teenage girl dressed in a black suit, top hat, and even carrying a cane, was obliterating the Primids with Hellfire and slashing claws. She cackled as she went through rank after rank of Subspace soldiers. Noticing the newest additions to the battle, she winked and disappeared with a flash.

"Where'd she go?" Lucia asked.

"BOO!" shouted a female voice. The girl in the suit burst into existence directly behind the child.

"Waah!" Lucia screamed in fear. R.O.S.E. stepped in front of her and glared at the new girl.

"What is _wrong_ with you?" she half-shouted at her.

"Hey, I didn't mean to scare her that badly!" the girl retorted, holding up her hands in front of her. She cleared her throat and smiled wolfishly at the trio. "Now, as I was saying, welcome to my magic show!"

"..Um…Okay…" Vince said with a WTF face.

Coleman soon noticed the four, and called back, "Guys, meet Kiara Reeds. Now, if you'd be so kind, get me outta here!"

"It's _Madame _Kiara Reeds!" Kiara shouted with a scowl.

"Who the hell cares? Just help me kill these damn things!" The others charged.

Kiara soon proved her worth. She was by far the slowest member of the group, and her teleport was not very effective, but like Bowser, she was ruthlessly powerful. Primids were felled with few strikes, and those that survived the first barrage were often scorched to ashes with Hellfire. She cackled with each attack, the violence seeming to empower her. She soon bored of slicing the Primids to pieces, but then resorted to beating them with her cane.

She found this much more satisfying.

The others were shocked a little by her violent onslaught, but then decided that they would prove that they were not powerless either.

Coleman smashed skulls and blasted the enemies to pieces, and occasionally stabbed them with his Bowie knife. He smirked. "These guys are freaking pathetic!"

R.O.S.E. quickly drove a kick into the gut of a Primid, sending it flying. "Yeah," she called back. "But there's too many of them!"

"Are you kidding?" Kiara asked. "I'm having fun!" The others ignored her.

"We need to get outta here!" Vince shouted as he blasted an enemy with a bolt of lightning.

"I agree!" Lucia shouted as she set off a bomb in the face of a group.

Coleman sighed. "Okay, let's go," he said, and the chosen began clearing a path. When they finished, they sprinted before the gap closed. Kiara couldn't resist turning to give them the finger before running away.

….

"They're back," Alex muttered to Jake. Jake nodded.

"Go get the others. I'll see if I can't find out how many of them there are." Alex nodded in reply and ran into the cave. Jake unfurled his midnight-black wings and jumped from the ledge that the cave rested upon. He flapped a few times and then glided, gaining altitude. Jake sighed in pleasure at the feel of flight. There was truly no other feeling quite like it.

He soon found the Primids. His jaw dropped a bit at the sight. There were at least ten thousand, not even counting Big Primids, Greaps, and shadowy beings that he did not recognize. Jake turned around as swiftly as possible and put on a burst of speed.

"Pit?" he asked. "Are you there?"

"_I'm here,"_ the angel replied. _"You guys need to get out of here; there are way too many to fight."_

'_Yeah,' _Jake thought back. _'But where are they all coming from?'_

"_Look above," _Pit replied. Jake turned upside down to see what he meant. Shadow Bugs were cascading down out of a large battleship, easily twice the size of the Halberd.

Jake had but one word for the situation: Shit.

He flew as speedily as he could to the cave where he and the others had been staying.

"I hope I'm not too late…"

….

**Yeah, another short chapter. I know this doesn't make up for the long break, but I was kinda rushed. Things are kinda hectic around here, and I don't know when I'll be able to update. The reason I didn't talk about one group was because I felt that I needed to try and make up for the last chapter. **

**Something has come to my attention: The US government is considering passing an SOPA bill. What this bill does, in a nutshell, is give the government the authority to delete sites that are accused of copyright. There doesn't even need to be proof, and anyone can make the claim. This bill would most likely delete all sites like Fanfiction, DeviantArt, or Youtube within a matter of weeks. We need to stop this bill now. The voting commences January 24****th****, and so I encourage any Americans reading this to go to Google or any of several other sites, and sign the petition. They can't ignore all of us. **

**On that note, I'll say goodbye. Peace. **


	10. Escape

**Hello. Yes, this **_**is **_**a slightly faster update. Hooray! Now, I want to say something before I start: Please, please, PLEASE give me a little criticism. Remember, I'm still a noob at writing. All constructive criticism is appreciated. Onto the chapter!**

…

Leon, Asima, Jerid, Will, and Chris stood over a still body on the floor of the Iron Building.

"So," Leon began awkwardly. "Who's gonna wake Hikari?" He pointed at the figure lying on the iron floor.

"Why don't we have Bob do it?" Chris asked, eager to see the gun-wielding teen hurt.

"Because," Jerid replied, "he and Gammic are having a farting contest, and personally I don't want to get a whiff of that. If you're willing to die of poisoned air, be my guest."

"Why are we even debating this?" asked Asima. "What's so bad about waking Hikari?"

"Well…" Leon started, and then stopped. "You know what, you're right. Why don't you go ahead and wake her up?" Asima shrugged.

"Fine, if it'll stop you guys bickering." She walked a bit closer to Hikari and bent down.

"Somebody hand me a needle." Will passed one from his pack into her hand. Asima bent a bit closer and muttered softly, "Now you'll remember who Red is," and jabbed Hikari in the backside with the needle.

Hikari jumped from her position with a yelp. She quickly got to her feet and jabbed Asima in the stomach. The other girl groaned in pain and bent over, clutching her gut. Hikari glared at the other teens.

"_Never _do that again," she muttered angrily and walked out the door. The boys shuddered a little and then turned their attention to Asima, still clutching her stomach.

"That was _so _worth it," she said weakly.

….

In another room, Bob and Gammic were passing so much gas that it would've choked Wario.

"It's just a matter of time," Bob said with a grin as he let one rip.

Gammic rolled his eyes. "If I can stand the stench of a decaying zombie left in the Gerudo Desert for three days, I can take whatever you can throw at me," he said, cutting the cheese for the umpteenth time.

"Well, I can turn into a giant octopus that smells like dog shit in a broth of horse urine and dead snails," said Bob, the next waft sounding like a tuba.

Leon opened the door of the room. "Hey guys, we really need to-" The teen collapsed on the floor as the stench of repeated farts hit his nostrils.

Will opened the door a bit wider, his cloak held over his nose and mouth to avoid the smell. "Guys, we really gotta go if we're going to make it to the ruins," he said, his voice sounding higher and more nasal.

Bob and Gammic glared at each other. "We'll finish this later," Gammic said.

"Took the words right out of my mouth," Bob replied.

….

After they had dragged Leon's unconscious body outside, the chosen stood in front of the door, shivering slightly in the cold air.

"Let's get going," Chris said, beginning to walk east.

"Wait a minute," Jerid said. "First we gotta get Leon up."

"Do we have to?" Chris asked. Jerid looked at the older teen.

"Well, it's either that or somebody has to carry him. I don't suppose you'd be willing to volunteer."

"Oooh, I have an idea!" Bob said enthusiastically. The others rolled their eyes.

"Okay, I'll bite," Hikari said. "What's your idea?"

Bob took off one of his shoes and dangled it in front of Leon's nose. The darker teen sprang quickly to his feet.

"I'm up!" he shouted.

"Okay, now we can go," Jerid said. Bob put his shoe back on and took the lead, the only one in the group who actually seemed to know where he was going.

After about two hours of walking, the group stopped for lunch. Will brought out a few stale granola bars from his pack, and Jerid pulled out some flat soda that he'd found while poking around the Iron Building. Leon quickly took it out of his hands.

"Hey! Give that back!" Jerid shouted.

"Dude, the last time you drank this you ran into a wall and got knocked out for an hour," Leon replied, holding the younger boy back with one arm while Jerid reached for the drink.

"Please? I promise it won't happen again!"

"No, you're not-"

The soda disappeared from Leon's hand and appeared in Jerid's. The gray-haired teen had a smug smirk on his face as he lowered the bottle to his lips. The others dog-piled on him as he tried to drink the sugary concoction.

"NO!" he cried desperately in a hoarse voice as they pried the soda from his grip. "NO! MY PREEEEECCIIIIOOOUSSSS!"

….

Jake flew as fast as he could to the cave where his friends had been staying. As he neared it, he drew his wings in, slowed down, and landed lightly on the cliff. Folding his wings, he sprinted for the entrance and dashed to the back of the cave where the others were preparing their equipment.

"Guys," he said, breathing heavily. "We need to get out of here."

"Whoa, whoa, calm down," Alex said, ushering him to the floor. "Now, just tell us what happened."

"Okay," Jake began, "I was flying over the Primids, trying to slow them down. But then I realized that there were way too many for us to fight. Even more than when we found you," he said, looking at Alex. He turned back to the others and said, "We need to get out of here, the faster the better."

Lea drew her bow and notched an arrow. "Then what are we waiting for? Let's get out of here before the whole Subspace Army is knocking at our door."

The chosen readied their weapons and went to the entrance of the cave. To their dismay, the first wave of Primids had already reached the area. Fortunately it was only the first advancing force, made up of Primids, Fayesh, and the like.

The chosen gave a nod to each other before leaping into the oncoming monsters. Lea stayed behind for a minute, shooting down Fayesh that threatened her companions. After she had rid the air of a few of the Subspace Minions, she leapt down to the others, drawing her slim sword and quickly decapitating a Fire Primid. Drey covered her with her own sword as they rushed to get away from the cave.

Alex and Jake fought with their close range weapons, cutting through the enemies quickly and efficiently. As they fought their way through, a new tactic was adopted by the Primids. The green soldiers would march straight on the ground while Fayesh floated lightly above them, their eyes bloodshot and open wide. The two male chosen developed their own strategy for combating this new threat: Alex would take the lead, Jake directly behind him. The Subspace soldiers would approach as always, never faulting or stopping. Then the two sides would meet, and Jake would jump over his friend's shoulders, unfurl his wings, and deliver quick blows to the Fayesh above with both ends of his bow.

Alex would keep running, slashing through the ranks of Primids with more skill than power, using swordplay to defeat the former minions of Tabuu.

In the lead was Luna, electrifying her foes with bursts of lightning and shockwaves. Once in a while she would stop and call down a powerful thunderbolt with Pikachu's help. Nick had his hands full just trying to keep up with her, although he did manage to chuck a few fireballs at the Primids and Fayesh during his mad dash.

In a short while they had broken through a few lines of the attackers and stopped to rest behind a large evergreen tree, its branches hiding them from the Primids.

"Do those things ever stop?" Alex asked, wiping sweat from his brow.

"I don't think so," Drey replied. "I don't think they're even alive."

"That would explain why they keep walking straight into thunderbolts," Luna replied.

"In any case, we need to get away from them," Jake said, massaging his arm where a Fayesh had shocked him.

"You guys too?" asked a young voice from behind a bush.

"Show yourself," Alex said, raising his weapon. From behind the foliage a girl stepped out. She was a thin teenager of slightly less than average height with dark blonde hair tipped with blue, glasses, a Kingdom Hearts T-shirt, baggy jeans, a sliver vest, and navy blue eyes. She also wore several belts, a choker, fingerless gloves, boots, and carried a messenger's bag along with what seemed to be a giant key.

"Sheesh," she muttered, folding her arms. "You guys are hostile, aren't you?"

"Well, considering we just fought our way out of a cave being attacked by Primids, can you blame us?" Alex asked.

"I suppose not," the girl said with a shrug. "I'm Emily Irene Knight, but you can call me Ly."

"I'm Alex Jefferson," the spiky-haired teen said.

"I'm Lealonna, but please call me Lea," said the girl.

"I'm Princess Dreygon," Drey said. "But my friends call me Drey."

"I'm just Luna, but some people like to call me Sparky," the blonde teen said with a wink.

"I'm Jake Heart," the winged teen said.

"I'm Nick," said the pyro.

Ly smirked. "Okay, let's cut to the chase: you guys are chosen, aren't you? After all, you did just hurl fireballs and stuff."

"Yep, you're right," Nick said. "I'm Mario's, and Drey is Peach's, Alex is Marth's, Lea is Zelda's, and you can probably guess the rest." To give her a hint, Luna created a small electrical spark on her fingertip.

"Well, I'm Luigi's," said Ly. "Let's get going, shall we?" Without further discussion, she began to walk south, taking a route out of sight of the Primids.

Alex leaned over to Nick after the girls had started following her. "We are being _overrun_ with girls," he said.

"Not that that's necessarily a bad thing," Alex said with a quirky grin. Jake punched them lightly, but secretly he had been thinking the same.

Needless to say, Pit was seriously chewing him out for such thoughts.

….

**Okay, that's it for this chapter. Was gonna write more, but I needed to update this before it was too late. Sorry to Shikishima, I know I didn't introduce your OC yet. Next chapter, I promise. **

**Also, I typed this up in one day. TAKE THAT!**

**Laters!**


	11. A Brief Respite

**Yes, fast(er) update! I had a little more time to write, so here ya go!**

…

"I'm tired!" Lucia exclaimed for the hundredth time that day.

"If you're tired, go to sleep," Coleman replied, "but don't blame us if we leave you behind."

"We've been walking all night!" Lucia complained in reply. Coleman sighed. The young girl spoke the truth. Not wanting to be attacked in their sleep again, the ragged group had continued walking until the sun had long since risen over their heads.

"She's got a point," Vince chimed in, yawning as he did so.

"For once, I agree with Wolfy here," R.O.S.E. said tiredly, motioning with a thumb to Vince.

"'Wolfy'?" Vince asked. "Seriously?"

"Would you rather I called you Dog Breath?"

"I'd rather you just shut up."

Kiara walked behind the others, giggling mischievously at the argument between the two chosen. The demon was tired as well, but she wasn't going to let sleep get in the way of her amusement. Coleman, on the other hand, was trying to avoid ripping his hair out.

'_Why did I have to be the only adult here?' _he thought. Lucia tugged lightly on his sleeve.

"Can we _please _camp here for a rest?" she asked innocently, her big brown eyes shining in a classic puppy dog face. "We haven't seen a Primid for miles!" Coleman turned away, pulling his hat down further over his eyes. His one true enemy: the puppy dog eyes.

"We'd be left exposed out here," he muttered as soon as he found a possible reason. "There's no cover, we'd be sitting ducks if something happened."

"Well," R.O.S.E. began. "We haven't slept in nearly a day, and it's almost nightfall. Do you really think we'd be able to take a horde or run in our condition anyway?"

"I could!" Kiara said, raising her hand quickly.

"Quiet, you!" R.O.S.E. snapped. She turned back to Coleman. "Well?" she asked, putting her hands on her hips. Coleman could feel the pressure from the others' gaze as he fought to make a decision. Eventually his need for sleep won out.

"Fine," he said, exhausted. "We'll take a rest here. But we're getting up bright and early tomorrow morning!" The group barely heard him as the rolled out the tattered rags they used as sleeping bags and began to snore.

….

Lucia was awakened by a loud crash that night. She slowly propped herself up on her hands and sat up. _'What was that?'_ she wondered just as another crash shook the landscape. Picking herself off of the ground, she inched over to Coleman. She knelt by the large man's head and tapped her chin, thinking of a way to wake him. After a moment of serious consideration (well, serious to her), she got an idea. If it were possible, a little light bulb would have appeared over her head.

The young girl grabbed Coleman's left ear and yanked it. Hard. But the warrior simply frowned in his sleep and turned to his side. So, Lucia did the next thing she could think of: she walked over to Coleman's other side and kicked him forcefully in the stomach.

The brute woke from his sleep with a loud exhale of air. "Ooof," he groaned as he got unsteadily to his feet. He looked over to Lucia, standing innocently to his left, hands folded behind her back and smiling cutely. Coleman wasn't fooled.

"Was that… really necessary?" he asked, half gasping for breath.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Lucia said with a small frown, cocking her head to one side. Coleman simply scowled in reply.

"Well, why did you wake me up, kid? Don't tell me you need a drink of water or something."

"No," Lucia huffed, slightly annoyed. "I heard some kind of explosion and it woke me up. I think it might have been the Primids." Now Coleman lost any trace of sleep on his face.

"Let's wake the others," he said seriously. "This could be very, very bad if we don't move." With that statement, we walked over to Vince and snapped his fingers in his face a few times. "Get up," he muttered gruffly. "We need to go." The groggy teenager slowly got to his feet and yawned.

"Alright, alright, I'm up," he told Coleman.

Lucia walked over to R.O.S.E. and Kiara. "GET UP!" she screamed at the top of her voice.

R.O.S.E., startled, got to her feet quickly and stood stock-still, like a soldier in line. Realizing it was only Lucia, she relaxed and said, "Geez, did you really need to yell?"

"Yes, yes I did."

Kiara, on the other hand, wouldn't move no matter what they tried. They'd gone so far as to try and stab her in the gut with a sword, but the demon stayed completely still, oblivious to their attempts.

"Whatever, let's just leave her," Coleman muttered, eager to be on their way.

"But she's a chosen!" Lucia protested stubbornly. "We can't just leave her here!"

"If she's going to be like this the whole trip, she'll be useless baggage that we'll need to carry around."

"Dude," Vince began, "that's just cold. We are not going to leave her here. We need her to beat this Lord of Shadows, so she'll be coming one way or another."

In the end, they decided to drag Kiara by the rag she slept on as they walked through the barren plain. It wasn't until around noon that Kiara awoke, more fresh and ready than any of the others.

"Finally!" Coleman shouted, dropping the rag he'd been dragging. "You couldn't have woken up earlier?"

"Oh, please," Kiara said, waving her hand dismissively. "I was awake the entire time."

"If you were awake, why did you make us drag you?"

"Simple: I'm lazy."

….

"This looks like a good place to stop," Leon said as he, Hikari, Asima, Will, Gammic, Jerid, Chris, and Bob neared a small river. Leon dropped his pack and sat down to rest with a sigh of relief. The others did the same.

"How far do you think we walked today?" asked Chris, dropping down next to Leon.

"Oh, I'd say at least ten miles," Asima replied, wiping sweat from her brow.

"Close," said Bob, adjusting his hood. "We walked ten point eight-three miles."

"Wow," replied Jerid. "That's, like, the least distance I've ever gone in a day." Leon glared at him.

"Well, not all of us can move at the speed of sound, dude," he said, filling his canteen with fresh water from the river.

"Have you ever wondered why flamingos are pink?" Gammic piped up. Most of the others either ignored him or rolled their eyes, although he did get one "I know, right?" from Bob. Immediately the two launched into a detailed conversation that somehow got into why strawberries are not made of real straws.

"Okay…" Hikari said. "We're gonna need some wood for a fire. Who's gonna volunteer?"

"No need," Will replied, pulling a bundle of dried sticks out of his seemingly bottomless pack.

"Seriously," Chris said. "How do you hold all that in one pack?"

"Dude, my smasher is Link," Will replied with a grin. "The guy who carried a ball-and-chain big enough to knock down a wall across all of Hyrule in a backpack, along with twenty other tools. Compared to that, this is nothing."

"Alright, so we've got a fire. Anybody got food?"

"I picked up a couple loaves of some kind of bread from the Iron Building," Leon replied. "It's kinda moldy, but there's easily enough to last us a few days."

"Wow, for once we came prepared," Jerid said. He and Will began to start a fire while Leon and Chris began debating which was more important in a fight, speed and agility or strength and endurance. This eventually led to a debate over who had the better choice of weapons, and finally who would beat who in a fight. The two argued fiercely over this topic, eventually turning away and stubbornly not talking to each other. It wasn't until Will finished the fire and offered to teach them to fish that the two warriors began to speak again.

Hikari and Asima simply sat in awkward silence, occasionally bringing up a topic that would be quickly shut down and falling back into boredom.

Gammic and Bob continued their conversation, each laughing and pointing out something new in their turn. After a while, they joined the other boys in catching fish, and when they had caught a generous amount they simply sat around the fire, roasting pieces of bread and fish and, in Bob's case, a beetle he'd found crawling around.

The boys eventually struck up a conversation about who would win in a fight again, this eventually leading into a footrace (Jerid, of course, was disqualified). Will came in first, Chris in second, Bob in third, Gammic in fourth, and Leon, panting, came in last.

Humiliated, Leon declared a second challenge: an arm wrestling contest. This time the results were quite different: Leon was the champ, then Will, Chris in third, Gammic in fourth, Jerid, and finally Bob.

Bob, angry, declared a burping contest, which all but Gammic refused. No one could decide a winner in that area (mostly because no one wanted to be the judge), so it was declared a tie.

"What is it with guys and competition?" Asima muttered to Hikari.

"I don't know," the spiky-haired girl replied with a grin, "but you have to admit that it's kinda fun to watch." Currently Chris, Leon, and Will were trying to see who had the biggest muscles. None of them seemed to be willing to admit defeat.

"Okay, I gotta give you that," Asima said with a small smile. Finally, she and Hikari had found something to agree on.

A half hour later, Leon was going for his sixth piece of fried fish, when suddenly it disappeared from the stick he was using to hold it in the fire. "What the heck?" he muttered, confused, and searched the ground for the lost piece of meat. A slight giggle came from a nearby bush, and Leon quickly turned towards it.

"Is someone there?" he questioned into the darkness.

"What are you doing over there, Leon?" Hikari asked, walking to her fellow fighter.

"I could've sworn I just heard someone laugh," he replied, frowning.

"Probably just your head," Hikari replied, hitting him on the top of his skull with her knuckles.

"No, seriously!" Leon shouted in defense, rubbing his head. Another light, childish laugh came from the nearby woods. "See? There it is again!"

"Okay, so maybe it's _not _in your mind. Let's go check it out." Without another word she dashed into the trees. Leon smirked a little.

"Finally, someone agrees with me," he said, following his friend. He and Hikari stood in the undergrowth, waiting for another sign. A bush nearby rustled, and Leon caught sight of a pair of bright blue eyes and pink hair. _'Wait, what?'_ he thought. Sure enough, when another shrub rustled the same features popped out from the darkness.

"Come out, whoever you are!" Leon called.

"You have to catch me first!" answered a small, young voice, followed by a giggle. The two pressed forward into the thicker wood.

"C'mon, we just want to know who you are!" Hikari called out.

"You can call me Dominique!" said a voice behind her. A young girl in a kimono decorated with petals looked up at her with big eyes. The girl tried to run back into the trees, but Leon caught her wrist.

"Ah ah ah," he said. "Not so fast. What are you doing out here, kid?"

Dominique puffed out her cheeks. "I'm not a kid! I'm eight!" she said stubbornly, folding her arms.

"Yeah, Leon!" Hikari agreed, trying to keep from smiling.

"What, but- Ugh, okay, okay," Leon said, defeated. "So you're eight. But that doesn't answer the question as to why you're here."

"I'm going to the ruins!" Dominique said cheerfully, as though this were as normal as going to a park.

"And why are you going to the ruins?" asked Hikari.

"'Cause Kirby told me to," the girl replied, still smiling. Hikari and Leon shared a glance. Apparently this girl was chosen, too.

"Alright, well, we're going to the ruins too," Hikari said. "So why don't you come with us?"

"Okay!" Dominique said cheerfully, and followed Hikari out. Leon followed them.

When they were almost out, Will's voice called out, "Leon! Hikari! What are you two lovebirds doing in there?" The tall teen's voice broke a little to keep from chuckling at the last part. Both Leon and Hikari flushed red, and ran out of the forest with Dominique following, leaping along in her little ballet slippers.

Leon got out first. When Hikari and Dominique were out of sight, he punched Will in the arm. "Dude, that was not cool. Nothing was going on in there."

Will simply grinned. "Sure there wasn't." At Leon's glare he held up his arms defensively and said, "Okay, okay, nothing happened!" Leon, satisfied, walked back to camp. Will grinned again, shook his head, and followed.

….

**Alright, that's it. Next chapter will just be the group I haven't talked about in this one. R&R, and don't forget the criticism! **

**Also: Shikishima, I changed your OC's name a bit because Dominic is the male form, so I thought Dominique would make more sense. **

**Anyway, Later!**


	12. Battleship Midnight

**Sorry this took me so long, everyone. I recently got addicted to Minecraft and, well, you figure it out from there. **

**By the way, I'm altering the OCs' appearances just a little bit. I'm trying to make it more realistic. And if you don't tell me what your OC looks like, I'm just gonna improvise. Now…**

**LET'S-A GO!**

….

The girl's sandals clicked along the iron hallways of the Battleship Midnight, her long silver hair flowing behind her. The teen's catlike ears twitched as another's footsteps echoed throughout the hall. She crouched and stuck close to the wall, hiding behind the limited cover of an open doorway. The noise stopped and she relaxed.

She began to slip away from the wall when a rough voice reverberated through her skull.

"_Stop," _the voice cautioned. _"Use the aura."_

"_Aw, come on," _she thought in reply. _"It's gone. You're just being paranoid."_

"_Just do it."_ The girl rolled her black eyes but complied, activating the sort of 'sixth sense' that Lucario possessed. Immediately her vision changed. Things were hazy, as if she was looking at the world through a fog.

"_Focus," _said Lucario. She did, and the thick wall she hid behind seemed to become transparent. She looked into the hall on the other side where she had heard the noise. A dark form that seemed vaguely humanoid was surrounded by blood red mist, the sure sign of an enemy.

"_I told you." _

"_Shut it."_

The girl slowly drew her staff from its makeshift sheath on her back. Holding it in front of her, she proceeded as silently as she could to the door, still maintaining the aura sense.

"_Careful, Sophie," _Lucario thought to her. _"Wait until it turns." _

Sophie waited as she was told and when her chance came, she went for it. As the guard turned away from her, she crept up behind the being. Sophie rushed herself just a little too much, and her sandals made a loud clack on the floor. The guard turned, drawing its shadowy sword and slashing out at the child. The keen blade sliced through the long sleeve of Sophie's gold-colored shirt and into her arm. Biting her lip to keep from crying out, Sophie tightened her grip on her staff and stabbed forward with the sharpened rock tip, stabbing the faceless shadow directly in the heart. The guard or whatever it was dissipated into wispy tendrils of darkness before disappearing completely.

"_I told you to be careful," _Lucario scolded.

"_I screwed up, big whoop." _

"_If that had been an inch closer to your elbow you wouldn't have been able to hold your staff. You're lucky you made it out with only a cut. On that note, you should probably bandage that." _

Sophie looked down at the wound. It was a large cut, long but not too deep. However, it was bleeding quite a bit, not to mention the stinging pain. She picked up the torn piece of cloth from the ground and wrapped it around the cut. Not much, but it would at least help stop the bleeding.

"_Now do you see why you should be careful?" _

"_Just shut up." _

Picking up her staff from the ground, Sophie looked around quickly for more guards and then crept as silently as possible down the hall.

….

Back on the ground, the sun had scarcely risen over the landscape, but Nick was already fully awake. The pyro had been on the last watch, which meant that he had to stay up from around four until now, which he guessed was somewhere around six or seven. The others were still fast asleep, many of them snoring.

Nick got to his feet and stretched a little.

"_Do-a you always get up-a this early?" _Mario asked. If he could have yawned, he would've. Nick just rolled his eyes. _"Anyway, why don't you wake up-a the others?" _

Nick took a look at the other members of the group. Most of them were clutching their weapons, and he had little doubt that they would use them. _"Uh, no," _he replied to Mario. _"I'd rather not die today, thanks." _Then he remembered the conversation he and Alex had had the night before. A mischievous grin slowly spread across the teen's face. Nick crept over to where Drey was sleeping on the ground, her sword clutched in her right hand.

He was about to execute his plan when Mario's accented voice interrupted his thoughts.

"_What-a the HELL do you think you're doing?" _The mustachioed plumber shouted.

"_Just having a little fun," _Nick replied, his grin widening.

"_There are-a two very good reasons why you shouldn't do that: One, Drey will rip-a your head off, and two, Peach will rip _my _head off for not-a stopping you!" _

"_Then we better make sure they don't wake up." _

"_I thought-a you said that _didn't _want-a to die today!" _Mario cried desperately. Nick ignored him and reached out with his left hand. _"Please! I'm-a begging you!" _Nick continued to reach, his grin becoming so wide that it hurt. Just as he was about to reach his target, he was knocked senseless by the flat of Drey's weapon.

The teen stood over Nick's unconscious body, his face bright red from the blow. Drey scowled angrily, and she was tempted to whack him again, or stab him and make sure he didn't get up. Fortunately for Nick, she decided against it, reasoning that she would make him suffer as much as possible the rest of the trip.

If Mario could have face palmed himself, he would have had a hand-shaped mark over his entire face.

….

Eddie Heart flattened himself against a wall onboard the Battleship Midnight and held his breath, not daring to make a sound as a Shadow Guard passed by. The beasts were everywhere on this ship, and he couldn't afford an alarm going off.

After the guard had gone out of earshot, Eddie removed himself from the wall, moving slowly so as to not make his armor clank. He cautiously walked over to an iron door. He didn't know where it went, but there wasn't much else he could do under the circumstances. He slowly opened it, his hand resting on the hilt of his sheathed sword.

The room, like the rest of the battleship, was dimly lit with only a few electric lights. It was enough to see an enemy, but not much else. The place looked like a navigator's room, with complex instruments and equipment scattered across desks and tables. Eddie wasn't sure why shadows would need navigational systems, but he dismissed it as a useless thought. He heard a slight tapping from inside, and ducked behind one of the long tables.

Keeping his hand on the hilt of his weapon, Eddie slid the blade part way out of its sheath, just enough to show the metallic shine of the sword. The noise stopped, and he knew that whoever it was was on to him. He slowly approached the end of the table, a drop of sweat beginning to bead on his forehead.

Taking a deep breath, he stepped from behind the cover of the table and drew his weapon with a loud hiss of metal. The figure at the end of the room seemed to have had the same idea. At first all Eddie could see was a dark outline and he raised his sword, settling into a ready stance. But as the figure stepped forward he realized that it was not a Shadow Guard. It was, in fact, a teenage girl around his age.

He sheathed the sword and took a step forward. The girl lowered her staff, but kept watching him as though he would attack at any moment.

"_Eddie, relax,"_ Roy's voice sounded in his head.

Eddie exhaled and followed the swordsman's advice. He extended a hand toward the girl, but she did not accept the handshake.

"Who are you and why are you here?" she asked coldly.

"I could ask you the same question," Eddie replied, dropping the hand.

"I'm Sophie. I'm here because Lucario told me that there was something necessary to the survival of the world here. Your turn."

"I'm Eddie Heart. I'm here because Roy told me to come here."

"Really?" Sophie asked, mildly surprised. "So you're a chosen one? I find that hard to believe."

"Sheesh, somebody's cranky," Eddie replied, folding his arms.

"Do you expect me to believe that _you_, a normal human, are going to help save the world?" Sophie said with disdain. "That's about as likely as-"

"Duck!" Eddie shouted. Sophie did so without delay, and Eddie rushed forward, slashing his weapon horizontally through a shadow guard behind her, killing the beast. "Now do you believe me?" he asked.

"I-I guess so," Sophie said, recovering from the near death experience.

"Good," Eddie replied with a grin. "Now, let's get going shall we?"

….

An hour after Nick's failed attempt, everyone in the group was awake. Even Nick, courtesy of Luna zapping him.

"So," Alex began. "Anyone have any idea where we are?" He was answered with a chorus of "Nope"s and "Not me"s.

Jake slowly rose to his feet and yawned. "Guess I'll go fly around a bit and see if there are any landmarks to go by." Unfurling his wings, he gave them an experimental flap before taking a running start and lifting into the air. The wind rushed by his face and through his hair as the oxygen grew thinner. He flew for about two minutes before something caught his eye. The battleship he had seen the day before was still flying around the area. Closing his wings tight to his body, he dove and barely managed to level off before he hit the ground.

"Guys!" he shouted. "That battleship I saw yesterday, it's right over there!" He pointed in the direction of the great machine.

"Are you sure we should go after it?" Ly asked, readying her keyblade.

"Even if we could catch up to it, we'd have no way of getting up there," Lea said.

"Well, I can fly," Jake replied.

"Not all of us have wings, genius," Nick chimed in, still rubbing his sore head.

"Wait a minute," Lea said. She closed her eyes for a few moments and then reopened them. "Zelda says that there is a way we can get to it. However, there's only a small chance that it'll work."

"Well," Alex said, "a small chance is better than no chance. What do we have to do?"

"First of all, we need to get closer to it."

Jake chimed in. "Maybe we can wait until it passes over us. It seemed to be heading this way."

"Okay, so step one is covered," Lea said with a nod. "Then we have to get in a circle so that Zelda can teleport us all at once."

"Does she have enough power to do that?" Luna asked.

"Barely. After that I'll be on my own for a while."

Drey stood up and dusted herself off. "Then what are we waiting for? Let's do it!" The somewhat strange group gathered in a circle, facing the sky.

"Wait for it…" Jake said. "Wait for it…" As the ship passed overhead, he shouted, "Now!" A green light surrounded them for a few seconds, and suddenly the setting around them changed. They moved extremely fast, the forest below quickly becoming the size of broccoli. Then with a bone-rattling impact they were inside the ship, on the metal floor in a room filled with strange and complex instruments.

"Jake?" asked a familiar voice. The winged teen stood, trying to work some feeling back into his legs.

"Eddie? Is that you?" He walked over to the taller boy and punched him lightly in the arm. Eddie in turn put Jake into a headlock and gave him a noogie, grinning the whole time.

"Erm, care to introduce us?" Alex asked awkwardly. The two separated and Jake, grinning, said, "This is my older brother Eddie." He introduced Eddie to the other members, each nodding or smiling in turn.

"And I'm Sophie," said the girl, stepping out from behind Eddie's large shadow. "Nice to meet you, I guess." Their introductions were cut off by slow clapping from behind.

"Oh, what a touching reunion," a deep, rumbling voice said. The chosen turned to the sound and saw the one enemy they had been dreading: The Lord of Shadows, Espirus.

"You!" Lea shouted, drawing her sword. The large man just grinned.

"Yes, me. I knew I should have killed you back in that dump you called a town. But no matter, you shall all be taken care of soon enough." He snapped his fingers and a horde of shadows and skeletons appeared behind him. "Throw them overboard," he said to the mass of deathly warriors.

"You think we'll go that easily?" Sophie asked, raising her staff. As she raised it to strike, her arm froze. The others were in a similar predicament. Espirus grinned again.

"Yes, actually, I do." He turned to the warriors and began to walk through their ranks. "Finish them," he said, and closed the iron door.

The chosen were easily lifted off their feet. Despite their greatest efforts, they could do nothing but scream as they plummeted toward the unforgiving earth.

….

**Alright, be prepared for a big A/N. **

**First of all, I improvised Eddie's appearance because his owner didn't tell me what he looked like. **

**Second, and this is a big one, the OCs are going to get hurt in this story. A lot. And no, I will not guarantee that everyone, OC or otherwise, will make it out alive. In fact, it's quite likely that a few are going to die. (I swear, if one of you reviewers says "PLEASE DON'T KILL [Insert name here]! PLEEEAASE!" I will personally rip that character to shreds.) If you guys didn't want your OCs hurt, well, you should've thought of that before you submitted them. Too late to back out now. **

**Third, the final number for the groups will be around 12 each. **

**Fourth, another big one, I cannot guarantee a happy ending. It's likely, yes, but not guaranteed. **

**Fifth, I'm going to start re-editing the earlier chapters for crappiness. **

**Sixth, updates are going to be infrequent. Between gaming, school, homework, friends, and my constant need for a nap, I don't have much free time. **

**Alright, that's it. R&R, and don't forget to criticize! ;)**


	13. Not Done Yet

**Okay okay, I think you guys took the killing thing a little too far. It's not like I'm going to make them spontaneously combust or something (that wouldn't be any fun, now would it?). The deaths aren't going to happen for a while yet. And if you think I'm going to let anyone out of the pain, think again. Also, I'm having a little trouble with the kid OCs. They probably won't play such a big part. (Don't worry; I'll come up with something for them to do)Now that my monologue is completed, TO THE CHAPTAH!**

….

The teenagers screamed out in desperation as they hurled through the air. The wind ripped at their faces as the ground grew ever closer.

"We have to slow our fall!" Jake shouted over the roaring wind. The others would have nodded were it possible. Jake turned his body to a spread-eagle shape and shouted to his friends to do the same. It wasn't much, but it bought them a little time. He grabbed Eddie's arm and slowly unfurled his wings. With a gulp, he turned into a diving formation and spread his wings with a loud _Snap!_

Jake's wings had been pinned to his back by the force of the wind and gravity, and he struggled to bring them back to formation. He managed to do so, albeit sloppily. Grunting with the weight of his brother, the winged boy finally leveled out and began to slowly descend to the earth.

Nick was having no such luck. _"Do something!" _Mario screamed.

"_What the hell am I supposed to do?" _Nick shouted back in frustration.

"_Uh, ah, um… Th-the water! Use-a the water!" _

"_How the hell is that gonna help?" _

"_Just-a do it for-a crying out loud!" _

Nick swore violently and shouted to Luna, "Grab my arm, quick! I've got a plan!" The blonde girl immediately obliged. _"You'd better be right, Mario," _he thought to the plumber. Channeling Mario's ability, he concentrated.

A device somewhere between a jetpack and a squirt gun appeared on his back, the nozzle on the top jutting out above his head. Gripping Luna's arm tight, he reached his hand behind his back and scrambled for the controls of his device.

"_Just-a let me do it!" _Mario shouted in his brain. Nick stopped scrambling and took a deep breath.

"_Fine,"_ he told his Italian companion. _"But you'd better hurry." _He flicked his gaze to the oncoming earth, just a few hundred meters away. He could feel the device on his back coming to life, the pressure building until he thought for sure it would burst. Then a ferocious burst of water spouted from the machine, liquid connecting with solid matter on the ground below, slowing their descent slightly.

"I don't think that's enough!" Luna shouted, clinging to his arm for dear life.

"Just give me a second!" Speaking to Mario again, he said, _"Is that all you can do?" _

"_Shut up and let-a me concentrate!" _The water pressure increased, their fall becoming just a little slower.

"_C'mon, we're almost at the ground!" _

"_Don't-a remind me!" _Mario would have been sweating buckets if it were possible. _"If-a this doesn't work, we're-a screwed!" _Finally, the water shot out even faster, slowing their descent just enough.

Nick and Luna hit the ground with a dull thud. Nick grunted and rolled to his feet, rubbing his knee where he had hit the ground. Jake and Eddie were already there, dusting themselves off and looking toward the sky.

"That was amazing!" Luna said, grinning widely. "Let's do that again!"

"I don't think so, Sparky," Jake replied, smiling a bit. He turned once again to the air. "Looks like the girls made it out okay."

Drey drifted to the ground lightly, clutching Peach's umbrella. Lea, Ly, and Alex were clutching the edges, eyes wide and knuckles white.

"I am never, _ever,_ doing that again," Ly said.

"Wait a minute, where's Sophie?" Eddie asked, looking around for her.

"Look out below!" cried a familiar voice from the air. Sophie landed on the ground with a pained grunt and got up.

"How did you survive that fall?" asked Lea curiously.

"Oh, I just kept spamming Aura Sphere," Sophie replied.

"Okay… Everybody alright?" Eddie asked. "Nothing broken?"

"Nope," Lea replied. The others all chimed in, none having anything too bad.

Although, Drey insisted that her broken nail was quite the catastrophe.

Sophie sat down on a rock. "How the hell are we going to beat Espirus if he can hold us completely immobile?" she asked, slamming her fist down on the rock in frustration.

"I don't know," Alex replied honestly. "But what I do know is that we'll find a way to kill this bastard, one way or another."

"How can you be so sure?" Sophie asked, narrowing her eyes and flattening the catlike ears on her head.

"Because we're the freaking _chosen _for crying out loud. How can we _not _win?"

Sophie scoffed. "Wish I had your optimism," she replied bitterly.

"Well," Alex began, "the way I see it, you've got two choices: you can give up now, go home, and pretend that an evil warrior isn't trying to take over the world and enslave every one of us, or you can keep going, give it your all and help us kick this guy's ass. Which would you choose?"

Sophie stood up and shook her head. "Fine, I'm in. But this is suicide, plain and simple." With that she walked off, not bothering to check if the others were following.

….

Will sighed and blew a few stray pieces of blonde hair out of his eyes. _"Of course, it's gotta be me who gets lost in the middle of nowhere," _he thought. "Why me?" he asked aloud.

"Will?" asked Dominique shyly. "Who ya talkin' to?"

"No one," the tall teen said in reply. Dominique had followed him when he'd gotten lost from the others in the group. The pink-haired little girl, who seemed to always have to ride on his shoulders, never seemed to stop talking.

"Are you sure?" she asked. "Sure sounded like you were talking to someone."

"I was just thinking out loud," Will said with a small sigh. He and Dominique continued walking through the undergrowth of the forest. Then they heard a loud rustling in the bushes. Will cautiously set Dominique down behind him and drew his sword.

The rustling grew louder. "Stay behind me," Will murmured to Dominique, readying his weapon. Then someone walked out of the bush. It was a young girl with fire truck-red hair and dressed for a hike, twirling a yo-yo.

Will dropped his blade. "Who are you?" he asked.

"I'm Shira McCalloster," the girl replied tiredly, her eyelids drooping. "Let's cut to the chase: I'm tired, I'm hungry, and it's pretty obvious that you two are chosen. So can you just tell me your names and maybe give me some food?"

"I'm just Will," the blonde boy said. He tossed her a granola bar from his pack.

"I'm Dominique!" the young girl said with a bright grin. The girl smiled a bit, then passed out right in the middle of the forest. Dominique walked over and poked her with a stick. "Is she dead?" she asked.

"No," Will replied. "Let's just get back to camp, okay?"

"Okay!" Dominique skipped off. Will sighed and picked up the girl on the forest floor. He had a lot of explaining to do when he got back to camp.

….

**Yeah yeah, I know it's a short chapter. I'm just fried, okay? I swear, I feel like I'm gonna pass out here. *Falls on floor, snores***


	14. Ambush

**Bah, updates will be random. Sports 4 days out of 7, school 5 days out of 7, and then add in homework and video games. Not much time. **

**Oh, and to Ninja Mongoose: *Shoots in foot with Bob's pistol* Next time you wake me up, I'll have Wario come after you...After I shove a bean burrito down his throat. **

**TO THE CHAPTAH!**

….

Needless to say, Will's return with an unconscious girl on his back sparked some questions within the band of warriors.

"Dude," Bob said running up to meet the other youth, "who's the chick?"

"Just wait," Will replied, shaking his head to ward off questions. When everyone had caught on to his presence, the tall fighter told them what had happened while he and Dominique had been lost. Dominique had decided to tell them as well, although her version had Will scrambling to save Shira as Dominique fought off a fearsome tiger with her short katana.

Even Bob had trouble believing the little girl's tale.

Shira woke up shortly after the group made camp for the night. When her initial confusion passed, the chosen introduced themselves as well as their smasher guide. She in turn revealed that she was the chosen warrior of Ness, one of the youngest smashers to join the tournament.

Will and Gammic lit a fire, while Leon attempted to clean a pheasant that Bob had shot earlier. Failing that, the blond boy gave up and sat with the others. Bob cleaned his pistols until they gleamed in the low light, making sure that they were loaded if the need for combat arose. Shira awkwardly fiddled with her yo-yo, not quite sure as to what she was meant to do.

Eventually Bob noticed and decided to talk to her. Shira wisely refused his offer to observe his and Gammic's favorite pastime.

Soon all the work had been finished and the chosen sat around the fire, idly talking to pass the time and roasting pieces of meat above the blaze. However, soon after they had fallen asleep, a loud rustling jolted Gammic awake. Picking up his staff from where it lay beside him, the purple-robed mage got to his feet.

Gammic cautiously approached the sound, his weapon tight in his grip. He cleared away a bush that was in his path and slowly took a step into the deeper part of the forest.

A loud yell startled him. Instinctively he brought up his staff vertically, just in time to block a ferocious roundhouse from the darkness. The blow resounded with a loud crack, and his attacker swore loudly from the impact. Gammic swept his staff to the side and drew back his left hand, a hex springing to his lips. He released the energy fast, a blast of purplish light exploding from his palm. It hit his aggressor square in the chest, sending them to the dirt with a loud grunt.

But it wasn't over yet. In the near-black light, Gammic barely caught sight of two slivers of light, along with the distinctive sound of metal on leather. His attacker had drawn knives, and struck out with relentless fury. Gammic jumped back quickly enough to dodge the first assault, but his staff was knocked from his hands when the flat of both knives collided with the wood. The blow sent a shockwave of pain through the mage's body, enough to make him drop his only weapon.

The assaulter stabbed out from the left, but Gammic could see the knife shimmer just enough and grabbed the attacker's wrist, sidestepping to avoid the blade. With a feral growl, the aggressor stabbed out with the right. Gammic employed the same tactic, now having control of both his enemy's arms. He drove his knee powerfully into their midsection, sending them to the ground once more.

Gammic picked up his staff quickly and began to mutter a jinx, sure that the assaulter would attack again. Instead, his enemy spoke, a rough but clearly feminine voice.

"Alright, you win." Gammic didn't drop his guard, certain that she would strike when he least expected it. "I'm serious," his aggressor said again, getting up. "Look, I'm Vui, and you'd better run. If you don't want to die, that is."

"What," Gammic began, "you going to attack me again?"

"No," Vui answered, "there's a ton of shadows coming this way, and something tells me that they don't want to sit around and chat."

"You're bluffing," Gammic said, rolling his eyes.

"You think I'm making shit like that up?"

"Wouldn't surprise me, seeing as you just tried to kill me."

"Alright, genius, take a look over there and tell me I'm lying." Vui waved a hand towards the darker area of the woods. Gammic watched through squinted eyes the scene that was before him.

Shadows, Primids, and many other beasts that Gammic couldn't name were marching through the forest, the Shadows passing through the trees with little effort while the remarkably few Primids tromped through loudly.

"Still think I'm lying?" Vui asked.

"Fine, you're right," Gammic said, furrowing his brow in concentration. "Come with me. Not sure if you're on my side or not, so I'll have to keep an eye on you." Although she knew he couldn't see it, Vui rolled her eyes. She sheathed the knives she still held and followed the mage out into the firelight. In the better light, Gammic could now see his captive more clearly. She was shorter than him, with blue eyes and dark hair. She wore a simple grey vest and trousers with her knives sheathed on one side.

"Stay here," Gammic muttered. He had little time, so, making sure he was a safe distance from Hikari, he cast a quick jinx and a loud sound not unlike that of a shotgun erupted in the clearing. The chosen sprang to their feet, a few clutching their ears. "Look," Gammic said quickly, "I haven't got time to explain, but there's a load of monsters coming this way. We need to move, now!"

"Then what are we waiting for?" Hikari asked, drawing her sword. "Let's kick some ass." The others nodded and drew their own weapons, even Vui. They were only a few feet into the forest when the horde broke through the foliage.

"Run!" Leon roared, slashing through an unlucky shadow. They heeded this command, and ran for their lives. Hikari and Leon, not being particularly good runners, were in the rear, pointing their blasters behind them and trying to slow the advancing force. The monsters did not slow, gaining ground steadily on the ragged warriors. Jerid, sprinting in the lead, realized with a jolt of fear that they had hit a dead end. A mountain rose out of the ground in front of them, smooth walls with no hand or footholds.

Jerid swore violently and drew his gun. It wasn't much, just a small pistol that he only kept half-loaded most of the time. He hated using it, seeing firearms as dishonorable to a true fighter. But, he supposed, everyone must make sacrifices, and he'd rather choose a chance at survival over honor. He drew in a slow breath and steadied himself for the onslaught he knew was coming.

Vui, Will, and Dominique, riding on Will's back and hanging to his cloak for dear life, broke through the last trees and leaned against the mountain, panting.

"Don't get too comfy," Jerid said, not taking his eyes off the trees. "They're not done with us yet." Chris and Asima were the next to come through, the winged teen barely fazed. Chris drew his blades and stared into the dense wood, knowing that the monsters still advanced. Bob and Gammic arrived next, and joined the line of defenders. Asima drew her chain-bearing sword and got the others into a second row behind them. Will stayed back, his sword in one hand, keeping Dominique behind him with the other.

Shira, Leon, and Hikari finally made it to them. Asima explained their hastily-made plan and the others nodded. Shira joined the front line, her fingertips sparking with energy. The warriors backed up to the wall, each ready for what might be their last stand. Leon took the lead in front of all the others. He unwrapped the chain from his waist and tied it around his left hand, creating a makeshift shield. He held Dark Aether in his right hand and waited for the fight.

He did not have to wait long. The beasts crashed through the foliage and struck fast. The chosen were forced to break lines and fight on their own. All hell broke loose upon the battlefield. A shadow spirit charged Leon and slashed downward with its blade. Leon brought up his chain to stop the attack and stabbed Dark Aether through the beast's heart. It dissipated, and Leon looked for a new target. He found one in a large phantom raising a mace at him. The blond ran to meet it and swung his weapon to the right, into the monster's leg. It screeched and brought the mace down, but Leon managed to roll under the beast's legs in time.

He quickly performed Aether, throwing Dark Aether into the air, jumping into a flip, and bringing it down with titanic force on the shadow's head. Dark Aether sliced through the shade like a hot knife through butter, going through the beast's heart. It screeched and died, smoky tendrils the only evidence of its former existence; soon they faded as well.

Leon went back to the battle and fought with all his might. He entered a familiar trancelike state, losing track of all but the enemies to kill. He felt the dull pains from the wounds he carried, a gash on his back, a large bruise on his leg, and many more. He felt something else, too. Something powerful, something suppressed. He could feel its thirst for blood, its urge to break free of its prison. The thought scared Leon, not knowing what it was or how to control it. But he ignored it, and continued fighting.

Sweat trickled down his limbs, wetting his dark clothing. He could feel his limbs growing numb from the near-constant impacts on his sword arm. But he felt a rush of energy and adrenaline, spurring him onward. It wasn't until Will dragged him to the wall and told him to rest that he realized how incredibly tired he really was.

He couldn't bring himself to get up and fight, as tired as he was, so he observed the others. Chris fought with a violent fury, his twin katanas a blur as he cut through the foes with a ferocious joy. His mouth was curled into a vicious snarl, and he was clearly enjoying the unique pleasure of war. He disappeared in an instant and reappeared a foot away, behind a shadow guard. He caught the beast unawares, plunging Umbra through its heart. But soon he, too, became fatigued, and could not fight with the same speed and power as he had before. But he did not stop striking them down, determination the only thing keeping him alive.

Asima noticed her friend faltering and rushed to his aid. She was bruised and slightly battered, but otherwise seemed okay. She slashed a shade clean through with a warrior yell and stabbed another. Chris smirked a little and fought with renewed vigor, clearly not wanting to be beaten by a girl.

Bob kept the monsters at bay with his remarkable gunmanship. Nearly every shot took down a beast, and none of them could catch him long enough to do real damage. The sharpshooter grinned, almost like a shark baring its teeth, and destroyed the beasts with pleasure.

Gammic, being a master of dark magic, was perfectly in his element. The shadows could not even come close to the mage, shot down at a distance with curses and spells. But magic has its limits, and soon Gammic had almost no power to cast a hex. So he used the remainder of his energy to conjure a razor-sharp spike at the end of his staff, and, using it as a spear, was able to hold his ground against them.

Unlike the others, Vui did not fight flat-out. Instead she snuck up behind the shadows with great stealth and stabbed them in their backs. But eventually they caught on to her little game, and ganged up on her. Vui gripped her knives tight and clenched her teeth. She fought well, but the shadows soon began to overwhelm the rogue. Gammic rushed over and stabbed a shade through the heart. Seizing the moment of confusion, Vui began to stab out viciously, attacking the ones surrounding her.

Shira joined in then, setting the monsters ablaze and often freezing them. Standing in a triangle, the three warriors repelled their enemies' attempts.

Will fought long and hard, protecting Dominique with all he had. The shadows closed in, but he struck them down with fury, cutting them to pieces. Jerid helped him, lashing out with deadly kicks and punches. He used his gun only if he had to, but sadly that was more often than he liked.

Hikari fought like the proud warrior she was, cutting through the ranks of enemies as though they were nothing but toys. But the shadows did not stand back and be defeated. Hikari had bruises and cuts across her arms, but if she was tired, she didn't show it.

But then Leon noticed something that sent chills down his spine. A great beast, far larger than the one he'd killed before, approached. Like the shadows, it was faceless, but was flesh in bone instead of pure darkness, and instead of a sword it carried a large flail. Hikari had not noticed, but the beast was within thirty feet of her, swinging its flail to throw.

"Hikari!" Leon shouted. Without thinking, he got to his feet and ran hard as he could to the girl. As the flail came closer, he grabbed Hikari's arm and dragged her to the ground. The flail crashed where they had been not a moment earlier, sending debris in all directions. Hikari was shocked for a second, but snapped out of it and got to her feet, not even bothering a thank you.

Leon hardly noticed and got up as well. "I've got a plan," he said.

"That's a first," Hikari muttered darkly.

"Just hear me out! We take down its legs, and then we'd have a clear shot at its heart!" Hikari just nodded and, drawing her sword, cut deep into the monster's leg. It screeched and tried to stomp her into the dirt, but she kept running, calling insults all the way. Leon came up from behind and took a swing at the tree trunk-sized limb. Dark Aether cut deep, down to the creature's bone. The beast fell, screaming in pain all the while. Blood poured from the open wounds in its legs, pooling under the monster's body. Hikari and Leon climbed on and stabbed through without hesitation, piercing the heart with their blades.

The monster gave one last screech before finally becoming still. Leon rocked on his feet as a wave of fatigue came over him, and, unable to stand any longer, fell, sliding off the beast's body to the ground.

As he blacked out, the last thing he saw was the concerned look in Hikari's eyes.

….

**Yeah, I might have overdone it with the fight scenes here. But that's what happens when I listen to music and write at the same time. Remember to review, people! Later!**


	15. A Traitor?

**Writing checklist: **

**Computer: Check**

**New Yellowcard album: Check *bashes head to music***

**Muse: Semi-check**

**Contact lenses: Check**

**Month-old Jellybeans: Check**

**Three large espressos: CHECKCHECKCHECK**

**Clichéd A/N: Epic check**

**Let's do this.**

…**.**

With a pained grunt, Leon fell to the dirt, his weapons still in his grasp. Hikari rushed forward and knelt to check the damage. Her friend was out cold from exhaustion and likely blood loss. She wasn't sure how many blows he'd taken, but his shirt was cut in many places and dripped with red stains.

Hikari got back to her feet and scanned her surroundings. The clang of blades and blasting of firearms reverberated through the scene. The others were fighting hard, but they couldn't keep it up. Jerid and Bob were nearly out of ammo, and the others were panting with exertion. She had to act fast and get them out.

"Chris!" she roared over the battle.

"Little busy here!" The winged teen screamed back, cutting down yet another shadow warrior.

"Leon's down! Get over here and help me!" Chris growled with frustration, but soared at top speed to the swordswoman. Sheathing his katanas, he picked up Leon's unconscious form and slung him across his back in a fireman's carry.

"Come on, then! Get the others and let's bolt!" Hikari nodded once and left Chris to do so. As soon as she was out of earshot, the raven-haired teen grunted and readjusted his load. "You just had to carry a hundred-pound weapon, didn't you?" he muttered to Leon, though he knew the boy wouldn't hear. The winged teen exhaled deeply and set off, noticing that the others were following Bob.

"C'mon, Chris, speed it up!" Will shouted as he started to lag behind.

"Shut it! You're not the one carrying three hundred fucking pounds!"

"Didn't you say you were the strongest of all of us?"

"I am!"

"Then prove it!"

That did it. With a feral growl, Chris ran harder than he ever had before. Sweat and blood dripped into his eyes, but he kept going as if the apocalypse itself was on his heels. His mouth was curled into an angry snarl and his eyes focused on the path ahead. Bob stopped next to a mountain waved them into a cave.

"Come on, come on! They're almost here!" the marksman shouted. The chosen rushed in. Chris put Leon down in a corner of the chamber and dropped down next to him, panting from exhaustion. Jerid walked over, smiling.

"That was some of the best running I've ever seen, dude," he said, patting Chris on the shoulder. "Take a rest, okay?"

"Thanks," Chris wheezed, and leaned against the wall. Sleep soon overcame him, and he slipped blissfully into its arms.

"Uh, sorry to burst your bubble, Jerid," Hikari said, "but we won't last long in here. They're not going to be stopped by a cave."

"She's got a point," Will added, "we need to seal this place off."

"I…think I can help…with that." The pained words came from Leon, apparently awake. Hikari gasped.

"Are you okay?" she asked, kneeling next to him.

"Okay?" the blond asked, struggling just to get the word out. "Hell…no. Just…listen. There's a switch…somewhere in this… room. It will… close off… the entrance." Leon was sucking in a pained breath with every word, straining to stay conscious.

"How do you know that?" Gammic asked skeptically.

"Just trust… me on this… one. Good…luck." With that, the injured boy slumped back against the wall. Hikari stood up.

"C'mon, we need to find that switch."

The chosen searched the walls and floor of the chamber for the device. The army of Espirus came ever closer.

After five minutes, the horde was so close that they could hear the footfalls of Primids and clanging armor of the giants.

"Come on!" Vui screamed in frustration. "Where in hell is that freaking switch?" In her anger she punched the wall of the cave, then pulled back her hand and swore in pain. But suddenly there was a slow rumbling, like a boulder moving into place. The whole chamber was plunged into black.

"Uh, Vui?" Gammic called to her from the shadows. "You might want to see this…"

Following the mage's voice in the darkness, the thief eventually found him. "What? What happened?"

"Somehow the door just shut itself! It was like something just fell in front of the doorway!"

"But… how is this even possible?"

"I don't know," Gammic replied with an invisible shrug, "but I think Leon has got a lot of explaining to do."

"Hey, anybody got a light?" Jerid asked.

"I do," Shira's voice echoed. Using Ness' power, a flame came to life in her palm. "Ow, it's hot!"

"Here, just set this on fire," Will said, holding out a sizable branch. Shira quickly lobbed the fireball in his direction, nearly setting his hand ablaze in the process. Will fell backwards in surprise and just managed to keep the torch aloft. "Jeez! Look where you throw that, will you?"

"Sorry, I panicked." Will just sighed in reply. Taking out his sword, he jabbed one of the walls until he'd made a hole begin enough to fit the torch into.

"There, nice and homey."

"Yeah, if you live in a cave," Hikari replied. "Is everyone alright?"

"I'm not too bad, but I've only got two magazines left," Bob said sadly, cradling one of his guns.

"Same here," Jerid replied. "Although to be fair, I didn't have many in the first place." The others appeared to be fine, although Asima had to bandage her left arm due to a lucky shadow's blade. Dominique tugged a little on Will's sleeve.

"What about Leon and Chris? Are they gonna be okay?" The little girl said, fear in her voice.

"They'll be fine, sweetie," Asima said. "Come on; let's see if we can get a fire going." Dominique followed her to the far end of the cave, away from the wounded. Will walked over to Gammic, who was inspecting Leon cautiously.

Quietly, so Dominique wouldn't hear, he asked, "So what do you think? Are they gonna make it?"

Gammic looked up from his work. "Chris just needs some rest. He'll be up in an hour, probably. Leon, on the other hand…" here the mage stopped, unsure how to continue. Will nodded.

"He'll be fine. He's a tough guy."

Gammic smiled a little. "Yeah, he'll be annoying us in no time." The mage's tone became serious then, and his smile disappeared. "How do think he knew about that switch? It's almost like he's been here before."

"I don't know, and that's what worries me. But it probably doesn't matter."

"But think about it!" Gammic almost shouted. "If he didn't tell us about this, what else might he be hiding? For all we know, he could be working for Espirus!"

Will scowled. "Leon is no traitor. You think he'd go so far out of his way to help if he was?"

"It might just be an act! Think about it: we don't know anything about him, his past, or even why he was chosen. He could just be waiting for us to let our guard down. We should finish him off now and be done with it!" Suddenly the mage found himself pinned to the wall, Will's arm across his throat. The blond glowered down at him, eyes blazing.

"Gammic, you fool! Leon fought just as hard as the rest of us, if not harder! You want proof that he's not a traitor?" Will jabbed a finger at Leon's decimated body. "There's your proof. Right in front of you, lying in a pool of his own blood. If you still want to kill him, go ahead and try. But I promise you this: I will personally rip you limb from limb, and feed you to the shadows myself!"

Gammic struggled for air with Will's arm crushing his windpipe. He could see clearly that there was no falsehood in those blue eyes, that the swordsman would make good on his promise and show no mercy.

Finally, after a few agonizing moments, Will let him free. Gammic dropped to his knees, gasping for air. Will turned to the others, who were staring at him with more than a little fear. His gaze softened.

"I'm sorry," he said, his head lowering and his shoulders slumping. "I overreacted. It won't happen again." Gammic managed to sit up.

"No, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that. I didn't mean it, I swear." He held out a hand to Will. "Friends?"

"Friends," Will replied, taking the hand with a smile. For a few moments, nobody spoke. But eventually the silence was broken.

"That's good and all, but shouldn't we be thinking about food?" Bob asked, patting his belly.

It might have been the stress, or the fact that they were so tired, but none of the chosen could resist laughing at this remark.

….

**Yeah, I know, this doesn't make up for the almost month-long break. I hope this satisfies a little, though! I've just been really busy with track meets and tests. **

**And if you're wondering why I beat Leon up so much, I figured it was time to stop going easy on these guys. Things are going to get much, much harder from now on. R&R and later!**


	16. Seperated

**Here we go again! Time to get some OCs introduced so we can finally get to the good stuff! Oh, and a bit of warning: I have to power down OCs sometimes. Can't have them blowing stuff to smithereens with a rocket launcher, y'know? No Mary Sues allowed. **

**To Engi-Head: I had to power down Max a lot. I can understand pistols and maybe rifles, but a chain gun, rocket launcher and plasma rifle? Really? Don't get me wrong, it sounds cool, but can you imagine trying to carry all of that and still go close-range as well? It's a bit unrealistic. **

**Very sorry that this took me so long. I could list all my excuses, but the main one is that my muse basically shot me in the foot, slapped me with a fish, and left. **

**LET'S-A ****ING GO!**

…**.**

As one group rested, another pushed on. Through the jungles they trekked, the great trees providing ample cover from the shades that sought their blood.

In the lead was a lean, teenaged boy in a grey shirt and torn jeans, cutting through the foliage with a large knife as though he harbored a personal grudge against the plants. Close behind was a small, barefooted boy in a straw hat, who leapt from rocks to roots with enthusiasm, as if the harsh terrain was nothing more than a playground for him to enjoy.

Next in line was a boy of similar stature, with hair as green as the canopy above, and who swung a wooden staff at imaginary attackers, screaming the appropriate warrior yells as he did so. Walking slowly behind him with slumped shoulders was a teenage girl with long brown hair and glasses, who stared sadly at the ground, speaking only rarely and in quiet tones.

In great contrast to the girl, the boy behind her had seemingly endless energy. He never stopped speaking, and often threw back his head and laughed like a madman, sending his blond hair flying and often nearly impaling himself on the deformed trident strapped to his back.

Behind him, a tall, dark-haired girl with a shaggy ponytail and black coat covered her ears, wincing.

"Seth, would you _please _quit laughing like a psychopath?" she asked the boy.

Sheepishly, Seth turned to her and muttered, "Sorry, Dark. Won't happen again." But the corners of his mouth began to lift slowly, and soon he had fallen into another round of maniacal cackling.

"Dude, if you don't stop laughing, I'm going to beat you into a coma," muttered a heavily muscled teen at the back of the crowd.

"Aw, come on, Jason!" exclaimed Seth. "Laughter is the best medicine, and I'd say you could use some right about now." He pointed to a long cut on Jason's arm, the blood seeping through the makeshift bandage.

"Ever heard the phrase, 'Too much of a good thing'?"

"Nope."

"…Just shut up."

"Sir yes sir!"

Walking silently beside Jason was a lean, dark-clothed teen with a hood over his eyes and a sword sheathed on his belt. The hood covered his entire face, not showing his foxlike ears and snout. He moved swiftly and silently through the undergrowth, as though he were afraid to be dragged into the conversation. Lost in his own thoughts, he accidentally bumped into two young kids in hiking gear trying to keep up with the boy in the lead. The twins, Tobi and Toni, could not have been more different.

"Hey, watch it, Sankai!" shouted Toni. She scowled at the boy before walking off again. Tobi remained silent, calmly stopping to retie his shoe before running after his sister.

"Sorry," murmured Sankai softly.

Back in the lead, the green-haired young boy had finally caught up to the knife-slashing teen in front of him.

"Max, when are we gonna get to the ruins?" he asked for the umpteenth time.

"For the last time, we are almost at the edge of the forest!" shouted Max in frustration.

"But you said that an hour ago!"

"It was five minutes ago. Now just shut up and let me get us out of here!"

"Fine! I'll just go talk to Addy then!" The boy in the straw hat raised his head at the sound of his name, but then quickly lowered it again when he realized who had spoken.

"Hey, Addy!" shouted the younger boy.

Addy groaned. "What do you want, Cabbage?"

"I told you to stop calling me Cabbage!"

"It's your name, what else am I supposed to call you?'

"I don't know! Something other than Cabbage!"

"Alright, how about Lettuce?"

"No!"

"Grassy?"

"Double no!"

"Oh, I've got it! How about Leaf?"

"No, no, no!" shouted Cabbage, jumping and swinging his staff in anger.

"Well, if you don't like those names, I guess I'll have to call you Cabbage."

"Agh! I am not a fruit!"

"Of course you're not. Cabbages are vegetables."

"Why did I have to be named Cabbage?"

"Just a guess, but have you thought that it might be your hair?'

"What about my hair?"

"Oh, never mind. Hey, I bet Dark would love to help you with a new nickname. Why don't you go talk to her?"

"That's a great idea! Hey, Dark!"

As Cabbage left, Addy said a prayed silently that Dark would not rip his head off before he could act on his plan. Then he readjusted his hat and walked up to Max.

"Hey, Max, can I please just use Sing on Cabbage? _Please?"_

Max smirked. "As long as you can get someone to carry him."

"Thanks."

Slowly, Addy crept up behind Cabbage. In one motion, he put the boy into a headlock and sang a soft but sweet song into his ear, Jigglypuff's power instantly putting him to sleep in Addy's arms.

"Thanks for distracting him, Dark," Addy said with a smile.

"You owe me one."

"Fair enough."

Addy dragged Cabbage's unconscious form to Jason, unable to carry the boy's weight.

"Would you carry him?"

Jason sighed. "I guess. Give him here."

Addy managed to lift Cabbage long enough to hand him to Jason, who simply slung the child over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

"You got him?" Addy asked, just to be safe.

"Yeah, he's fine. But we'd better hurry if we're gonna catch up to the others." Addy nodded in response and jogged back to the front.

About fifteen minutes' worth of walking later, the strange group finally reached one of their few landmarks- a large stone bridge spanning the crashing river below. Until a decade before it had been a fragile rope bridge, but a boom of travelers had caused the nearest settlement to build a sturdier structure. But tourists had long since stopped using the path, and it had been reclaimed by the jungle. The bridge was covered in moss and vines, but still stood strong.

"Finally!" cried Dark. "This means we're almost out, right?"

"That's right," Max replied. "At least, that's what the map says. Wait, do you hear that buzzing sound?"

"Yeah," Dark replied. "I've got a bad feeling about this. Maybe we should wait and see before we cross."

Tobi and Toni did not seem to hear what their older companions were saying, or simply didn't care. "Yes!" shouted both of the twins at once. They dashed forward, paying no mind to the growing noise in the air.

Sankai was the first to notice the problem. "Wait!" he shouted at the duo. "Something's not right here!"

Sankai was correct. For no sooner had the words left his lips than a hailstorm of bullets hit the ground. Tobi and Toni screamed and sprinted forward to the other side of the bridge. Sankai's heightened sense of smell picked up on the different odors in the air. Gunpowder, gasoline… and explosives?

Suddenly realization dawned on the teen. "Get down!" he roared across the bridge. Adrenaline surging through his veins, Sankai rushed forward as fast as he could and tackled the twins to the ground, shielding them from the blast.

A number of explosions rocked the bridge, sending debris in all directions and utterly obliterating the entire structure. The sound was deafening, causing everyone to cover their ears, and forcing Sankai to howl in pain as his sensitive eardrums were nearly destroyed. The teen fell onto his back and clutched his ears, unable to move.

A slow chuckle echoed through the area, chilling Max to the bone. Seth was the first to get to his feet, his usual grin replaced by an angry snarl, his trident in his hands. The others followed suit. Even Cabbage, who had been awakened by the blast, was managing to stand up.

Out of nowhere, a heavily-armed, streamlined metal ship, essentially a rocket-propelled platform, appeared. Two translucent beings stood on it, one red, and one blue. Both had gleaming yellow eyes. The red wisp seemed to have long hair and looked vaguely feminine, while the blue one resembled a thin boy, showing razor-sharp teeth. As one, the figures laughed and disappeared as suddenly as they had arrived.

When at last Sankai could stand, he shouted across the bridge, "Is there any way back across?"

Jason roared back, "No! We can't get to you from over here! We'll have to find our own way to the ruins! We'll meet back up with you there!"

Sankai nodded. "Good luck!" He turned to the twins. "Alright, we'd best get moving. I'd like to be out of this damned place by nightfall, if possible."

The children nodded numbly, their minds still reeling from shock.

After about fifteen minutes, they could see the end of the trees giving way to grasslands. They ran towards it, only to find the way blocked by two girls. One blonde-haired and garbed in glue, with two swords sheathed at her belt. The other had hair the color of sand, and was armed to the teeth with blades of all kinds.

Cautiously, Sankai drew his blood red blade. "Stay behind me," he whispered to Tobi and Toni. "If something happens, make a break for it and run." The twins nodded, although Toni looked more like she was going to confront them herself.

Sanki took a step forward. "Who are you?" he asked the girls, trying to sound casual.

The sandy-haired girl faced him. "I could ask you the same question. Who are you and what are you doing here?"

As a show of good faith, Sankai sheathed his blade and bowed. "My name is Sankai. These two here are Tobi and Toni. We're on our way to the ruins."

The girl snorted. "Wow, you're a gallant one, aren't you? Around here, that gets you killed." She drew a long dagger from one of her many sheathes.

The blonde stepped forward. "Olivia, control yourself for a second. Sankai, did you say you were going to the ruins?"

The boy nodded. "That's right. And we're kind of in a rush."

The girl smiled. "Are you… Chosen?"

Sankai's eyes widened. "You know about that?"

"Of course I do. We're chosen as well!"

Olivia stepped forward once again. "Uh, sorry about the threat," she said sheepishly. "I think we got off on the wrong foot. I'm Olivia, and this is Brook. I'm Diddy Kong's chosen, and she's DK's. What about you?"

Sankai smiled. "You can probably guess Toni and Tobi are the Ice Climbers. I'm the chosen of King Dedede."

Brook raised an eyebrow. "You sure don't look like Dedede would have picked you."

Sankai shrugged. "You don't look like DK would have chosen you, so I guess we're in a similar position."

Olivia stepped between them. "We can talk on the way to the ruins. Let's get going!" With that she charged off, the others struggling to catch up.

….

**Woo, chapter done! I know it's been a while since I've updated, and I'm sorry for that. But now I've introduced every OC (at least I think I have), so now we can get down to business. **

**If this chapter seems sloppy, it's because I haven't had much sleep lately. ****I can't guarantee many updates. To put it simply, I've got a lot of stuff to do. Please leave constructive criticism- it's the thread this story is hanging by. **

**See you next time!**


	17. Awakened

**Whoo! All OCs have been introduced (finally!), and that means that we can get down to business. No more OCs will be accepted, as I'm having trouble remembering them as it is. Now then… *cracks knuckles*…**

**Let's go. **

…**.**

Leon awoke with a start. At first, he could hardly see anything in the low light of the single torch. After a minute, his eyes adjusted and he began to get to his feet. Even the simple task of standing was difficult for him, his legs having been slashed nearly to bits.

Standing awkwardly, he gave himself a quick once-over. To his relief, all his limbs were securely in place. However, his weapons were gone along with his jacket and T-shirt, and his torso was covered in stained bandages. Leon tentatively poked at one on his right arm and instantly regretted it, the action sending a shot of pain through the entire limb and forcing him to let out a yelp.

The sudden noise startled a sleeping Hikari, and on instinct she half-drew her sword. The warrior turned to face the sound and saw Leon, wincing in pain. Hikari let out a breath she hadn't known she'd been holding and sheathed her weapon.

"So, you're finally awake," she said to Leon.

"Yeah, and I'm beginning to wish I'd stayed asleep."

"I don't blame you. You took quite a beating back there."

"True, but I made 'em pay for it. How long have I been out?"

"It's hard to tell time in here, but we guess it's been about two days."

"I was out for two whole days? Where are we, anyway?"

"You don't remember? Chris carried you here on his back after you passed out. The only reason we didn't get swarmed by shadows in this place is because you told us about a switch to close the entrance."

"I did what?"

"Did you not hear me? You told us about a switch to close the entrance, like you'd been in here a thousand times."

"I think you're mistaken. I've never been here before in my life, and I sure as hell didn't find a switch."

"You have got to be kidding me."

Leon shrugged, and then winced from the pain in shoulders. "Sorry, but I think you must've been dreaming or something. I've got no idea what you're talking about."

Hikari's brow furrowed. "Huh. I guess you just don't remember because you just woke up. You'll probably remember it later. In the meantime, you should probably put your shirt back on. You're gonna freeze dressed like that."

Suddenly Leon was acutely aware that he'd been talking to a girl for nearly five minutes without a shirt. Blood rushed to his face as he scrambled around looking for the garment. He found it under a first aid kit and guessed that someone had found the kit in the back of the cave, where he could see bones scattered on the floor. He didn't want to think about what had happened to the last people who'd used it.

After he slipped the shirt on, Leon found that it wasn't much better than the bandages. The black cloth had been ripped to shreds and was still wet with heavy amounts of blood. Still, it was slightly warmer. He put on his jacket- equally torn and stained- and went to find his blade.

After a minute or two, Leon couldn't see it anywhere. "Do you know where Dark Aether is?" he asked Hikari.

"You mean that flagpole you call a sword? Gammic probably still has it. He was trying to figure out how you held the damn thing during the battle."

"And where's Gammic? Come to think of it, where is everyone?"

"They went out to get some fresh air. Couldn't stand the blood and the smell in here."

Leon raised an eyebrow. "If it's so bad, why didn't you go with them?"

For a moment, Leon could have sworn he saw Hikari blush. But it was gone as quickly as it had come. "They, uh… They said someone had to watch you. Y'know, change the bandages and make sure you didn't croak."

Leon paled. "They thought I was gonna die? It was that bad?"

"It was worse than that, actually. Gammic was about 90% sure that you wouldn't be walking out of the cave. Will and Dominique were pretty much the only ones who were confident you'd be alive. Besides me, of course."

"Well, I'm glad everyone had such great faith in me," Leon said drily.

"To be fair, though, you did pass out from blood loss. That's not the most encouraging sign."

"Hmph, I guess not. Anyway, we should probably go tell the others that I'm alive."

"Are you sure you should be going outside? You can barely stand."

"I'm fine! Besides, we need to get going anyway."

"Alright, alright. Just let me hit the switch." Hikari put her left hand to the wall and felt around until she found what she was looking for. The stone wall of the chamber lowered slowly back into the dirt, as if the ground had simply swallowed it up.

"Woah," Leon said in surprise. "I was not expecting that." He walked out, and was greeted by scorched trees and dead grass. The others were sitting up against the mountain, talking about various subjects. Will was the first to notice Leon and Hikari. He stepped away from the wall and walked forward, grinning hugely.

"Hey, look who it is! I knew you'd make it." The blond turned back to the group. "Hey, Gammic!" he shouted. "You owe me twenty bucks!"

The mage slipped away from the wall and picked up a huge black object from the ground. He carried it carefully over to Leon. "I believe this giant hunk of scrap metal is yours?" he asked, handing the weapon over. Leon picked up Dark Aether with one hand.

"Thanks."

"No problem, though I fail to see why you would use such a giant sword."

Leon grinned. "Because I get to chop things in half with it, that's why."

"There's one question that's been bothering me."

"What is it?"

"How did you know about that switch back in the cave?"

Will took a step forward. "I've been wondering the same thing. It's okay, you can tell us."

Leon frowned. "Like I told Hikari, I don't know what you're talking about. I've never been here before, and I don't remember even waking up before now."

"There must be something you're not telling us," Gammic said. "We're a group, Leon. We can't keep secrets from each other."

In the background, Hikari flinched ever so slightly.

"Look," Leon said. "I don't know anything about this cave. I haven't got any secrets!"

"Then how did you tell us about the switch if you didn't know about the cave?" Gammic shouted.

"I don't know! I'm just as confused as the rest of you! I swear, if I knew anything, I'd tell you!"

"But-" Gammic was cut off by Will stepping between them.

"Break it up! We can't fight amongst ourselves." He turned to Gammic. "Just calm down. Let him tell us when he's ready." He turned to Leon. "We'll find out what really happened. For now, you should rest. We should leave tomorrow morning."

"Will, I'm fine. I can go now if we have to."

Will shook his head. "No. You're not strong enough just yet. Besides, it'll be dark soon. We'll leave in the morning." With that he walked back inside that cave.

Jerid and Bob had been listening to the entire conversation.

"Glad you're okay, Leon," Jerid said, smiling and patting him on the back before going inside. Bob followed him, uncharacteristically silent. Hikari and Gammic simply walked in without another word.

Dominique ran up and hugged Leon's leg, forcing the teen to smile. "I knew you'd be okay! Gammic didn't believe me, but I knew it!" With a wide smile, she ran inside.

Shira and Vui walked back to the entrance.

"Glad to see you're okay, Leon," Shira said with a small smile. Vui simply punched him lightly in the arm and grinned.

As soon as she was out of sight, Leon groaned and rubbed his wounded arm. Vui hit pretty hard, and she'd punched him where he already had a deep bruise. Asima and Chris just nodded to him and walked into the cave.

Leon sighed. He had no idea what had happened earlier in the cave, but his gut told him that something was wrong about it. Shaking his head sadly, he followed the others.

Inside the cave, Leon found Chris sitting in a corner, admiring his dual katanas. Leon walked over and sat next to him.

"Hey, Chris."

"Yeah?"

"Um… Thanks for, y'know, carrying me to the cave. I owe you. Seriously."

Chris smiled. "Don't mention it. But hey, could you do me a favor?"

"Sure, what is it?"

"Go on a diet, you're as heavy as Bowser." Both immediately burst into laughter. When the chuckling stopped, Leon stood up.

"Well, good night, I guess."

"Yeah, g'night."

Leon settled into an unoccupied corner of the room and simply lay down against the wall. He fell asleep quickly.

Two hours later, Bob was still up. Something was eating at him that night, not allowing him to sleep. He slowly got to his feet and walked quietly over to Jerid. He nudged the gray-haired boy with his foot. "Jerid," he whispered. "Get up."

Jerid rolled over on his back and sleepily opened his eyes. "What? I was sleeping, dude."

"Can you teach me how to fight?" Bob asked quickly.

Jerid blinked a couple times. "What? Why?"

"Because I don't want to be caught off guard if I run out of bullets! I want to be able to defend myself."

Jerid frowned. "It'll take a lot more than one night to teach you how to fight, Bob. It's not something that can be learned very quickly."

"Then just teach me the basics! C'mon, please?"

Jerid sighed and stood up. "Alright, alright. First things first. Show me a fighting stance."

Bob nodded quickly and brought up both fists in front of his face, like a boxer. Jerid shook his head.

"That might work in boxing, but what if your opponent has a weapon? It's not so good then. Here, do what I do." Jerid put his feet shoulder width apart, stepped forward with his left foot and turned his right foot to the side, his feet making an "L" shape. He put his left arm up vertically in front of him and kept his right back, tucked upside down in a fist.

Bob raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure? That doesn't look like a fighting stance to me."

Jerid sighed again. "It's called a back stance. Defensive. See, this way I'm a smaller target and harder to hit, and it's easy to block."

"I don't believe it."

"Then come at me."

Bob stepped forward and punched at Jerid with his right hand. Jerid easily blocked it with his left hand, stepped, and drove his right hand straight into Bob's stomach. The boy dropped to his knees and wheezed.

"See? It's easy."

"That _hurt, _Jerid!"

"If it was a real fight, you would've just lost. See what I'm getting at now?"

"Yeah, yeah, I get it. When do I get to learn cool kicks and stuff?"

Jerid sighed. This was going to take longer than expected.

….

**And there we go. Another chapter done. The next group will be Coleman's team. And I'm kinda low on sleep, so sorry for any sloppiness. (That and the fact that I wrote this in two hours.)**

**And yes, if you're wondering, I do know what I'm talking about with the fighting stances. And yes, Bob learning this stuff will come in to play later. **

**Review, and see ya later! **


	18. Betrayed

**So here I am again, apologizing for not updating for what seems like forever to me. I'm not gonna bother making excuses; you've probably heard them all already. **

**So here's how it's gonna go: I'm gonna stick with one group until the group reaches a point where I believe they need to stop, however many chapters it takes to get there. When they reach that point, I'll move on to the next group. Get it? Good. **

**Let's get going, shall we?**

…**.**

When Leon awoke the next morning, his head was throbbing painfully. He stood up slowly, placing one hand on his skull. No one else was awake yet, and Leon couldn't tell the time in the dark cave. He walked over to Will, who was sleeping fitfully, thrashing this way and that, as if having a nightmare. Leon prodded the other boy with his boot.

"Wah!" Will exclaimed, sitting up. His eyes were wide with fear. Then he calmed down and saw Leon's concerned look. "Oh, it was just a nightmare," he muttered sheepishly.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. I think I must've eaten a bad mushroom or something yesterday. What time is it?"

"No idea."

"Then let's go check." With that, Will pushed the button to open the entrance. Bright morning light immediately burst into the cave, forcing Leon to blink quickly and repeatedly to get his eyes used to it. "Guess it's time to get up, then," laughed Will. He seemed to have recovered from his nightmare.

Leon's head still throbbed. He groaned in pain, placing more pressure on his skull. The other boy raised an eyebrow. "You okay, man?" he asked.

"My head really hurts," Leon replied weakly.

"Maybe you should have Gammic take a look at that."

Leon nodded. "We should get the others up."

"Who's gonna wake Hikari?"

Leon sighed. "I guess I will. Got something to throw at her?"

Will grinned and passed him a rolled up sock. It reeked, having been worn by the boy for about three weeks straight. Leon's eyes watered as he held it up. "You really are sick, you know that?" He grinned as well.

As he brought his arm back to throw, Hikari stood up. "Don't even think about it," she warned. The girl walked straight out of the cave without another word. The two boys looked at each other, disappointed. Leon gave the sock back to Will.

The tall boy stared at the piece of clothing for a minute and then suddenly hurled it at Chris's sleeping form. "Leon did it!" he shouted, and ran from the cave.

"Will, you freaking-"

Leon was cut off by Chris tackling him. The two struggled, trying to pin each other. Their yelling woke the rest of the group. "Fight, fight!" shouted little Dominique. Leon was gaining the upper hand, his brute strength overpowering Chris. The blond swung a punch, hitting Chris in the chest. The other boy kicked out viciously and caught Leon in the jaw. He fell backward with a grunt, landing heavily on the floor. He had gotten to his feet was rushing like a bull when Gammic roared, "Knock it off!" The boys froze, startled by the mage's outburst.

"You guys are idiots, fighting each other when we've got much bigger problems. What the hell is this about, anyway?"

Chris jabbed a finger at Leon. "This jerk just threw a-"

"I didn't do it!" interrupted Leon. "Will's the one who started it!"

Chris stopped for a moment, surprised. Then he looked Leon in the eyes and said, "Truce?" Leon nodded and the two shook hands. Then Chris grinned. "Let's get Will!"

Will, who had been hiding outside the cave and watching the fight from the shadows, shrieked, "Shit!" He ran, but Chris caught up to him easily by flying and tackled him from the air. Leon joined in soon after. When the inevitable beating was done, Leon approached the tall boy. Will hadn't received any substantial wounds, minus a few bruises, because none of them were actually willing to hurt each other.

"Why the heck did you do that?" Leon asked.

"I thought it would be funny."

"But weren't you the one that said we shouldn't fight?"

Will laughed. "Yeah, but I bet your headache's gone now, isn't it?"

Leon stopped. He was right; there hadn't been any throbbing since Will had thrown the sock. _"You know, you really should thank him,"_ said Ike in his head. Leon ignored the mercenary and walked back to the group. In Will's mind, a completely different message was being conveyed.

"_Well played, Will. Well played,"_ Link said with a slight chuckle. The boy grinned in response. _"Y'know, I didn't actually have that in mind. I just really wanted to throw something." _The Hero of Time laughed, audible only to Will.

"So, where are we going?" Leon asked when they got back.

"Vui thinks there's a town over in that direction," said Jerid, pointing due south. "I think we should check it out. Even if nobody's there, there's bound to be supplies of some kind. And it's even on our way."

Leon nodded his approval. "Does everyone agree?" he asked, facing the group. No one said anything to the contrary, so off they went. As they walked, Bob caught up to Hikari, who was at the head of the pack. No matter how he tried to talk to her, she didn't respond, only staring straight forward, focused completely on their destination. Bob tried to get in front of her, but she turned away and never let him see her face.

Confused, Bob turned to Leon. "Can you go talk to her?" he asked. "I think something might be wrong." The other boy nodded and jogged up to his friend.

"Hey, what's up?" he asked. Hikari just turned her head away. Leon tried again. "Is something the matter?" This time Hikari did respond.

"No, nothing's wrong," she choked out. The words were soft and quick. This only served to confirm Leon's suspicions.

"Come on, if something's bothering you, you have to tell us. We're your friends, we can help you." Hikari turned away again, but this time Leon could have sworn he saw tears streaming down her face. He grabbed her arm and turned her around to face him. "What's-"

Hikari punched him hard in the shoulder, making his arm go numb. "Go away!" she said, and walked faster. Leon followed her, clutching his arm.

"Come on, you've got to tell me!" he cried. In one swift movement, Hikari drew her blade and had it at Leon's throat.

"Go away," she hissed. Leon reluctantly complied, scowling as he walked back to the others. Hikari turned around and kept walking onward.

….

The rest of the walk went similarly. Hikari didn't say another word the entire time. It was about an hour later when they finally walked into the deserted town. The buildings looked like they were going to fall down, and abandoned cars filled the streets. There were dead bodies everywhere, slashed, stabbed, and almost all bore expressions of horror. Not even the smallest children had been spared.

"_It must be Espirus's doing," _Ike spat. Leon agreed. No one else would have killed all the innocent people in the town so mercilessly. They weren't even necessary deaths, just normal people trying to survive. Hate for the man flooded Leon's mind. Now more than ever, he felt like crushing Espirus. He relished the thought of his blade piercing the Lord of Shadows' chest.

Leon kept thinking this way as the band of warriors wandered through the town, looking for supplies. Finally they found a hunting supplies store, filled with weapons and ammunition. It was mostly rifles and shotguns, though there were several bows and hunting knives as well. Everyone helped themselves to the weapons. Clearly the owner, whose body lay torn and slashed on the counter, wasn't going to need them anymore.

Bob and Jerid found some ammunition for their pistols, enough to keep them going for quite a while. Gammic, Vui, and Shira all grabbed knives. Chris, Hikari, and Will didn't even bother looking, loaded up with weapons already. Leon exchanged his blaster for a smaller, more accurate pistol with several magazines of ammunition. Asima grabbed a compound bow, and Will made sure that Dominique didn't take anything. However, the little girl managed to get a small knife into her pocket before he noticed.

The Chosen grinned, feeling unstoppable with their new arsenal. Hikari was the only one who didn't, and she still hadn't said a word, which worried Leon. He didn't try to talk to her again, though, because he knew that if he did, there would be a fight and one of them would most likely die. Leon couldn't allow that to happen, and so kept his mouth shut.

As they left the store, a large white van sped towards them. "Look out!" shouted Will. They managed to get out of the way, but the van came around again. This time, however, it stopped in front of them and several heavily muscled men swarmed out. They quickly surrounded the confused warriors and pointed pistols and shotguns at them. Chris quickly took a head count. All the Chosen were present except for one.

Hikari.

Chris filed away this knowledge and counted the thugs. There were at least thirty of them. How they'd all managed to fit in the van, he didn't know. Chris sized them up, gauging their strength. As he did so, he noticed something: all of the men had no irises in their eyes. Nor was there any white in them. The pupil filled the entire eye, vacant and black.

Gammic had noticed as well, though he knew what it meant. The men were thralls under the influence of black magic, unable to resist their master's control. They would have no problem shooting all of the teenagers or even Dominique. They would feel no regret, either. And the only way to stop them would be to kill them.

Gammic readied himself for a fight, gathering magic in his staff and left hand. If he got the chance, he could override Espirus's magic and turn the thralls to his side. However, that was a big "if". It would take a lot of power and concentration to perform such a spell, but it was his best option. He closed his eyes and began to chant.

"Not so fast, Gammic," said a familiar voice. The mage's eyes opened and he saw Hikari pointing her sword at his throat. The thralls had parted to make a path for her. "Surprised?" she asked with a sinister smile. Gammic scowled angrily. He'd known that someone was a traitor. He'd known it since the Iron Building. And yet he had done nothing about it.

He shot a curse from his staff, but a thrall jumped in front of the spell, shielding Hikari and killing himself in the process. The girl laughed. "Do you really think that'll work?" She batted his staff out of his hands. Gammic growled like a cornered animal and gathered energy in his fists. But he never got the chance to use it. Just as he was about to release the hex, a thrall shot him in the head. Gammic was startled to find, as his vision faded, that he wasn't dying. He knew death well, and this wasn't it. _"A tranquilizer,"_ he thought, and then fell unconscious.

Ganondorf was outraged. Beaten by black magic, not so different from his. It was infuriating. But as Gammic's consciousness faded, so did that of the King of Evil.

Leon was in shock. He couldn't believe that one of his closest friends was working for Espirus. In his anger, he shouted oaths and swearwords at Hikari and tried to draw his sword. Two men pinned his arms to his sides, but with Ike's strength as well as his own, he elbowed one in the throat hard enough to kill him, and threw the other to the ground. The thrall's skull was quickly crushed under Leon's boot. He drew Dark Aether and swung violently, taking off a man's head. But he got no further, as he was quickly overwhelmed and tranquilized again and again until he fell unconscious.

As his senses faded, the last thing he heard was a soft, "I'm sorry."

….

**And there you have it. I have been waiting to write this next part since the beginning. **

**I really am sorry that I haven't updated in what, five months? It's ridiculous. I can't promise that I'll update faster, but I will try. **

**If you noticed a problem in this chapter, tell me! I love constructive criticism, so just leave it in a review. I'll see you guys later!**


	19. Imprisoned

**Right, so I've got another update for you all. YAY! *cough, cough* Ahem, sorry about that. A little pre-chapter warning: Some characters are gonna get more attention than others. That's just how it is, and it goes for the rest of the story as well. **

**Second warning: This chapter contains large amounts of blood and profane language. **

**As I said last time, I've been waiting since the beginning to write this chapter. It was one of my first ideas when I started this story. So, enjoy!**

…**.**

Inside his cell, Gammic tapped his fingers impatiently on his knee. After the thralls had knocked him and Leon out, they'd thrown them into some prison along with the other Chosen and confiscated their weapons and clothes, throwing them rags to wear instead. Under normal circumstances, escaping wouldn't have been a problem. Unfortunately, while the cell itself was fairly standard with a simple bench, a toilet, and a bed, the prison was the most high-tech facility Gammic had ever seen. To open the cell, you needed to unlock a fingerprint scanner on the outside wall.

Gammic had tried to hack the lock and to simply blast it apart with magic, without success. He had never been much good with technology, and without his staff he couldn't focus enough power to blow it to pieces. And so he waited, sitting on the plain metal bench and planning his next move.

"_Assuming I can get out of this damn cell,"_ he thought to himself, _"I'll need to find our equipment and free the others. I've got no idea where anyone else is, but the warden's office might have cameras watching them. As for the gear…"_ Gammic's thoughts trailed off.

"_If you can get close to one of those thralls, maybe you can suck the knowledge out of his head,"_ said Ganondorf.

"_What about getting out of this cell?"_

"_Sorry kid, you're on your own there."_

Gammic sighed and ran his fingers through his tangled hair, which had grown long over the course of their adventure. He thought for hours, going through every spell he knew. Then he got an idea. Twice a day, the thralls slipped a tray of food through the bars of the cell. Gammic knew that he'd never open the door that way, but perhaps if he could get close enough…

The mage kneeled down on the dirty floor of his cell and ran his hand through the dust. He kept doing so until his hand was completely covered in it. Then he sat back on the bench and waited, taking care not to disturb the fine layer of dirt and dust on his hand. When the thrall finally came back hours later, Gammic acted.

As the food was being slid inside, he grabbed the thrall's hand tightly and stared deeply into its dead eyes. The man paused for a moment, caught off guard, then quickly yanked his arm back and walked away. Gammic sat down on the floor with a smile. His plan had worked perfectly.

He looked down at his hand and saw that the dust that had collected there had turned a dark purple and was settling in the shape of the thrall's fingerprints. Taking a look outside to make sure that no one was watching, he reached his arm through the bars to find the fingerprint scanner. Then he pressed his hand hard into it to make sure it read the prints and then pulled it away. There was a small beep and the bars slid into the wall, freeing him.

"_Watch the cameras, kid," _warned Ganondorf. _"I don't think they saw that, but you need to take them out before they notice your cell open." _

Gammic nodded. He saw one camera in the hallway and extended his hand towards it, sending black magic into the dust on the floor and causing it to blot out the camera's vision. Then he went one step further, commanding the dust to enter its circuits and shut the camera down completely. Only then did he advance, and cautiously at that.

"_Better hurry, kid," _said the King of Evil. _"You really don't want to know what they're doing to your friends right now."_

….

Unlike Gammic, Leon had not been put into a normal cell. He had been placed in what he could only describe as a torture chamber. It had a very low ceiling and a table on which sat a number of horrible instruments. Leon didn't even want to guess what most of them were for. Blood dripped down the walls and pooled on the stone floor, the only light coming from a dim light bulb hanging from the ceiling. In the corners of the room were buckets overflowing with bloody rags. There was a large, blood red door in one of the walls, somehow completely clean. The entire place reeked of decay and the metallic scent of blood, and all Leon could hear was a faint dripping noise.

He himself hung from the ceiling by a pair of chained handcuffs attached to both of his wrists. His feet were shackled to the floor similarly, forcing him to slump forward limply. He was dressed in ragged trousers and a thin shirt, the rough material chafing his skin.

He'd been hanging there for what seemed like hours when the men entered. There were three, all heavily built and standing with one in the middle and one on either side of him. Leon assumed the one standing in the middle was the torturer, and the two others were his assistants. All were dressed in dark red shirts and black pants, and the two men on the sides carried thick staves. The man in the middle approached, and Leon could see his greasy red hair and beard, could smell his sweat.

"So, you're the infamous Leon," he said, his voice low and gravelly. "You've caused us a lot of trouble, you know." He took a step forward and grabbed Leon's throat, the boy powerless to stop him. He spoke again, his breath reeking of garlic. "And now, Espirus wants me to get you to talk. He thinks you know the location of the other so-called Chosen. The catch? I can't kill you. But he's given me full freedom to do whatever I wish besides." He gave a yellow-toothed smile and gestured for his assistants to some closer.

"I don't know anything about the others!" Leon shouted. The torturer laughed.

"That's what they all say, boy! I've been doing this a long time, and every single prisoner I've had denies any knowledge of their co-conspirators."

"Conspirators? Who the hell do you think you are, the freaking emperor?"

"Emperor? Ha! No, I'm just the emperor's master of pain. And you, my friend, are just another flea to be crushed under his boot." His assistants took their places on either side of Leon. "We'll start with a simple beating. Have fun, boys!" The big men grinned viciously and raised their staves.

One after the other, they swung the heavy weapons into Leon's back. The boy clenched his teeth defiantly, refusing to let the men have the satisfaction of hearing him scream. The men swung harder and harder, leaving giant, painful bruises all over Leon's torso and probably breaking one of his ribs. He grunted once, the exclamation escaping his lips before he could stop it. But Ike's champion wouldn't let these men break him. He clenched every muscle in his back to try and resist, but they were too strong. Leon's head swam, his thoughts melding together into one simple word: Pain.

After a few minutes, the men stepped back, panting and leaning on their staves. The torturer stepped forward. "I'm impressed, kid. Most grown men would have given me what I want by now. In fact, I bet you're just _aching _to tell me something, right?"

"Yeah, I am," Leon spat out, raising his head to stare defiantly into the man's eyes. "Go fuck yourself."

The man's fist smashed into Leon's cheek, turning the skin purple. Fresh blood dripped down the boy's face, but he kept his gaze steady. Leon roared more insults, but the torturer had decided to move on. He handed the men flails with hooked barbs on the ends.

"You'll enjoy this one, kid," the man said, smiling evilly. "These little babies are specifically designed to rip your skin off. My personal favorites, in fact." He continued, but Leon had stopped listening.

"_Got any ideas for escape?" _he asked Ike.

"_I'm sorry, Leon, but you're going to have to bear this one. I'll think of something, though, I promise."_

Leon wasn't convinced. But there was no alternative to just bearing the pain, so he gritted his teeth once more and tried to ready himself for the inevitable. Nothing could have prepared him for the hooked whips.

Leon nearly screamed on the first swing. As the whip connected with his back, the hooked ends dug in and as the man pulled back it took a chunk of skin and blood with it. The second whip did even more. When the man pulled back, the boy couldn't contain his scream of pain. The weapon had literally taken a chunk of muscle out of his back, along with a layer of skin. Hot blood seeped out of the wound, streaming down his back and legs, finally pooling on the floor.

"Take it easy!" shouted the torturer. "Espirus wants the little prick alive!" The men swung with a little less force after that, but Leon still couldn't stop his eyes from tearing up. Tears mingled with blood on his face and dripped onto the concrete, wetting the torturer's boots. The handcuffs dug painfully into Leon's wrists, leaving bright red marks. Finally, the torturer held up a hand. "A'right, that's enough. Don't want him bleeding to death, do we?" He laughed cruelly.

Leon's will was beginning to waver. How could he keep this up?

"_I've got an idea!" _Ike exclaimed suddenly, jolting the boy out of his thoughts of self-pity. _"It's simple: you need to make him angry!" _

"_Are you out of your mind?! I thought this was an escape plan!" _

"_Just hear me out! You're not going to be able to get out of this alone. But if you get knocked out, he'll have to wait until you wake up to torture you again." _

"_So, we're just buying time?"_

"_Got a better idea?"_

Leon conceded defeat. He was in too much pain to debate with Ike now. And, after all, pissing people off was his best ability. He raised his head and shouted at the torturer, "Is that all you got, jackass?!" Spittle flew from his mouth as he said it. As he had expected, the torturer's temper got the better of him. He picked up a discarded staff and brandished it in Leon's face.

"Oh, you want more, do you?" He smacked the boy furiously with the weapon. Leon's head snapped to the right with the force of the blow. He spat in the torturer's face. The big man threw the staff away and smashed his fist into Leon's nose, breaking it. The blond groaned in pain.

"Alright," he said softly, crying a little. The torturer's face lit up with triumph. "I'll tell you where they are."

"That's a good boy! Now, tell me, so I can get onto other business."

Leon raised his head, grinning cockily through the veil of pain that separated him from reality. "Up your ass."

The next blow knocked Leon unconscious.

….

**I'm gonna end this chapter here. I think this is probably my fastest update yet! And don't worry, I'm gonna finish the prison scene in the next chapter. **

**Until then, my friends!**


	20. Released

**Right, so here goes. *Cracks knuckles* **

**The warning from last chapter still stands here. (FAIR WARNING! I CAN NO LONGER BE BLAMED FOR SWEARING TOO MUCH!) In fact, the violence in this chapter probably exceeds that of the last one. **

**Time to have some fun with the others. **

…**.**

Vui sat idly on the bed in her cell, tapping a fingernail on the wall. The bars and ceiling glowed a strange, deep purple that flowed like windblown sand. She'd tried several times to escape, but none of them had met with success.

"_Try it again!" _commanded Wario in his usual gruff tone. His accent was considerably less noticeable than Mario's, but it still stood out. Vui sighed.

"What's the point?" she asked aloud. "They already knew about my ability when I got here, and they threw me in this damn hole." She was referring to her ability to teleport a short distance. It had served her well as a thief, as well as gotten her out of many prisons, but Espirus had somehow figured it out and built an appropriate cell. How he'd found out, Vui had no idea.

"_Just do it!" _Wario screamed. The girl wondered, not for the first time, why the hell Wario, out of all the smashers, had chosen her. _"Because you're a thief, a rogue like me," _the man said, reading her thoughts. _"Now try it again!"_

Vui scowled in frustration, but obliged. Closing her eyes, she breathed in slowly, focusing intently on the hallway on the other side of the bars. She envisioned the area in as great a detail as she could remember, and gradually it started to glow in her mind's eye. The girl slowly let out the breath she'd been holding, feeling it carry her away on a gentle breeze. _"Maybe it'll work this time," _she thought hopefully as her physical body disappeared.

As the breeze reached the bars, Vui let out a pained yelp. What felt like electricity coursed through her entire body, starting at her hands and quickly spreading to the rest of her system. She materialized, panting, still in her cell. She cursed loudly and kicked a wall as hard as she could, ignoring the immediate pain.

"_Are you all right?" _asked Wario, almost sounding concerned. Almost.

"Fuck you."

"_Yeah, you're fine." _Vui placed her head in her hands and sat back down on the bed. There was no way to get out.

"Are the others alright?" she asked Wario.

"'_Alright' is not a word I'd use. Particularly not in Leon's case."_

Vui frowned. "What's wrong with Leon?"

"_They're torturing him. Honestly, it's surprising that he hasn't already bled out."_

"What are they doing to him?"

"_Whips, beatings, the works. He's a tough little bastard."_

"What about the others?" Vui asked, trying to change the subject.

"_Your buddy Gammic's gotten out. Making his way to the warden's office, by the looks of it." _

"Can he unlock this cell from there?"

"_I think so, but he's going to get cornered any moment now. We'll have to find our own way out." _

"Cornered?"

"_He's got about five guards coming after him from different directions. He hasn't got any weapons either, so I'd say that you need to get out of here quick and help him." _

"Any ideas?"

"_There's a guard patrolling outside. Try and use him."_

"_Why didn't I think of that earlier?" _Vui thought. It was so simple! But for her plan to work, she had to make sure of something. She walked over to the bars of her cell and grabbed one, bracing herself for a shock. Nothing happened. "Good," said Vui with a smirk. She waited anxiously for the guard to walk by.

When the thrall eventually approached, Vui wasted no time. The man had made the mistake of walking too close to the cell, and now he would pay for it. Vui quickly thrust her arms between the bars and gripped the thrall tightly by the throat, pulling him backwards and choking him against the cold metal. He struggled for a moment and then laid still, his unconscious body falling to the floor.

Vui pulled a large knife from the man's vest and calmly slit his throat, wiping the blade clean on her shirt. She then pulled the thrall's right arm into the cell and with one big swing she cut off his hand, the thick blade easily slicing through flesh and bone. Warm blood trickled down her arm as she held it up to the lock, pressing the severed hand onto the fingerprint scanner. The bars retracted into the wall and Vui walked out of her cell, dropping the man's hand on the floor. She took the thrall's gun and ammunition just to be safe, and began to run down the corridor.

"_Was it really necessary to kill that man?" _Wario asked.

"He would have come after us if I hadn't. And besides, I probably did him a favor. He was possessed, a slave to Espirus."

"_Good, you're learning to handle things properly now. Never leave a witness or an enemy behind you," _the man said approvingly.

Vui had stopped listening. Truth be told, she did feel bad about killing the man. He was a thrall, yes, but still a person. Had he had a family? What would they do with him gone? Would they just-

Vui shook her head. She couldn't dwell on that, or it would consume her. _"Harden your heart," _she thought to herself.

"_You need to hurry up, kid," _her companion said.

"Why? What's happening?"

"_Security cameras. They've been watching your every move, and now you've got guards on your tail."_

"Should we stay and fight?"

"_No, we need to get to Gammic. He's running out of power, and by the time we'd finished with these guys, he'd be back in a cell or dead."_

Vui nodded. She increased her pace, sprinting down the hallway with the knife in her hand. Wario gave her directions on when to turn, and so she made it to Gammic rather quickly.

When she found the mage, he was backed up against the wall with four guards slowly boxing him in. One man was dead on the floor, blood gushing from a wound on his head. Judging by the stain on the wall and Gammic's bloody hand, Vui guessed that the boy had smashed his skull. The mage's knees were bent slightly, extended hands glowing purple, an animalistic snarl on his face. Vui acted.

The rogue sprinted up behind the nearest thrall and jumped on his shoulders, driving the knife deep into the side of his neck. The man fell dead almost instantly, slumping to the floor. His friends turned to Vui, momentarily distracted. Gammic wasted no time and smashed his fist into one thrall's gut, fist pulsing with purple magic. The punch alone brought the man to his knees; the magic finished him off, spreading out from the impact like a disease until it reached the brain. It slowly eroded the man's flesh, turning it to dust. He screamed in agony, but Gammic paid him no mind.

He grabbed the next thrall by the throat with his left hand and the head with his right. This man died quicker, the disintegrating magic almost immediately consuming his mind. The last thrall fought back, slashing horizontally at Vui, but the girl ducked quickly and stood back up, using the force from her legs to drive the knife into the man's torso and up into his heart. He fell backwards onto the floor, dead. Gammic fell onto his knees, panting loudly, his battle fury gone.

Vui surveyed the damage. Five thralls laid dead, three bodies and two piles of dust. The place reeked with the metallic scent of blood, and Gammic's panting echoed back against the walls. Vui pulled him to his feet, looping one of his arms around her shoulder and holding him by the waist with her left arm to help him walk.

"Thanks, Vui," Gammic panted. He grinned, even though his face was bruised and one was nearly swollen shut.

"Don't mention it," she replied with a smile. "Where do we need to go?"

"Warden's office. This place was built for maximum security, but they made a huge mistake: from the warden's office, you can unlock any or all of the cells in the whole place. If we can get there, I can let the others out."

"Ganondorf tell you that?" asked Vui.

"Yeah. And apparently, Hikari's there too." They both scowled at the mention of her name.

"Should we kill her?"

"No. Even if we defeat her- and I'm not sure we could- we need her. She carries Wolf's spirit."

"Do we really need that furbag?"

"We don't leave people behind, Vui," Gammic said with an icy glare. "No matter what she's done, she's still one of us. I think Espirus is controlling her."

"How do you know that?"

"I saw it in her eyes, Vui. She's being controlled. And she's fighting it, but Espirus is too strong to be denied."

"So we're supposed to just forgive her? Tell that to Leon!"

"Another reason to get to the office. If we don't get Leon out of there, he's screwed."

….

Leon could see only darkness, could hear nothing, could _feel _nothing. It was all just black silence.

"_Shouldn't I be unconscious?" _he thought. _"Or maybe I am, and this is just some twisted dream." _Laughter boomed inside his head.

"_A dream? Ha!" _said a deep voice. It was slow and smooth-sounding, unmistakably male. _"My boy, you don't know how lucky you are to be here."_

"What do you mean? Who the hell are you?!" Leon shouted, turning around to try and catch a glimpse of whoever was talking.

"_I mean exactly what I said: you're lucky. You're the first to enter my realm in over a century."_

"Your realm? But I was knocked unconscious!"

"_Yes, and in a time of great distress. That's why you're here."_

"Here as in where?!"

"_My realm," _the voice said, annoyed. _"Sorry it doesn't have some cool name, but that's where you are."_

"Who are you?"

"_I've been known by many names: Demon, Monster, Shade, Terror of the Night. I am Akareth."_

"Who?"

Akareth sighed. _"Completely clueless, then? Has the world forgotten me so completely in just a century? I was once a man, an extremely powerful one. I make no attempt to hide it: I wanted power, unimaginable strength that would make me immortal. Eventually, I found it. But in my search, I killed mindlessly. Anyone who got in my way, or even entered my sight, died. Except for one."_

"And who was that?" Leon asked, listening intently.

"_Your ancestor. He himself was not a completely moral man, but he decided that I couldn't be allowed to live. I was too big a threat to humanity, to the world. Leon, the man whom you are named after, confronted me. He was strong, incredibly so. A master of both swordplay and magic. But so was I. We clashed, and we fought for hours, our swords colliding and singing as they sailed through the air. Sparks of magic flew through the air, sometimes connecting with their targets, but not often. Our weapons connected far more, but neither of us would back down. _

"_Eventually, he got the better of me. I felt my blade leave my hand, felt the tip of his touch my throat. We both knew that no matter what happened he couldn't kill me. So I smiled. I laughed, even. But your namesake had a plan. He knew my skill, and that I could be an asset. So he used what magic he had left to trap me inside him. Inside his very essence, his genetic code. _

"_The spell took so much power that to hold me captive inside his DNA, something else had to be taken out: magic. That is why you cannot perform spells like your friends Gammic and Shira. Magic is something that is part of you, part of your family. Since I was trapped in his DNA, I was passed down through your family. The father or mother lost their control over me, while their firstborn child inherited it. I now act as your guardian. A last resort, should I be needed."_

"So, you'll help me?"

"_I have no choice. I long to be free again, to once again wet my blade with the blood of my foes. I will lend you my strength."_

"You're a bit melodramatic, aren't you?"

"_I haven't spoken in over a hundred years. I want to enjoy it while I can." _

Leon considered his options. Let Akareth take over and break him out, or let the torturer inflict more pain. The choice was clear.

"Alright, you've got a deal." Instantly he felt power flow into him, so much that it was almost painful. He could feel it coursing through his veins, making muscles stronger and sharpening every sense. He opened his eyes to see the torture chamber, still stinking of blood. The pain came back to him, and with it came anger, anger at the torturer, at Espirus, and at Hikari. Hikari, his friend. The one who had always had his back, who had saved him more than once, who had screwed up his emotions beyond recognition.

Who had sent him into this hell.

He felt the power rise with his anger, red and raw. He could feel it change him. His eyes blazed red, both from the power and from blood surging faster through them. Red energy, visible now, enveloped him like a coat. Leon grinned savagely. He used his new strength to yank on his restraints, breaking the metal into pieces.

"What the hell is going on?!" shouted the torturer. His assistants ran in fear, dropping their weapons and sprinting for their lives. "Cowards!" roared the man. He said no more, for at that moment Leon plunged his bare hand through the torturer's chest, ripping out his heart. The man fell to the floor, dead.

His assistants fared no better. With inhuman speed, Leon sprinted after them. He caught both men by their necks and lifted them into the air, grinning all the while.

The last things they saw were the boy's blood red eyes.

….

**Alright, alright, I said that I'd end the prison sequence here, but honestly I'm not gonna be able to put everything else in this chapter. I'll probably finish it next time, though. **

**I realize that I repeated a lot in this chapter, but I did that on purpose. I felt that it added to the mood, but maybe I was wrong. **

**I haven't forgotten about the other groups, either. I've still got plans for them. **

**Finally, the reason this chapter took so long is because I've been trying to fix the earlier chapters, but they seem so bad that I don't even know where to start. Let me know what you guys thought of this chapter, I'd really appreciate it! Thanks for reading!**


	21. Breakout

**Right, so here goes nothing. **

…**.**

Chris punched the walls of his cell, hearing a satisfying crack on impact. He knew he'd never break out with brute force, but that didn't stop him from trying. After all, what could the guards do to him now? He was already trapped, and he knew that they wouldn't try to kill him.

As he pulled his hand away from the cold concrete, he marveled at how little blood was flowing from his knuckles. He'd long since stopped feeling the pain, but usually there was quite a bit more blood. Maybe he was running out.

"_What is wrong with you?" _asked Meta Knight.

"What are you talking about?" Chris said it out loud. Even if the thralls could hear him, they wouldn't know what he was talking about. Their minds were blank and thoughtless.

"_It is not like you to give up so easily."_

"What's the point? I'm stuck here."

"_Stuck? This coming from the man who once smashed his way out of a testing facility." _

"The cage they put me in was just reinforced glass. Badly reinforced, at that. I can't break through solid concrete or steel." Chris said defensively, but he knew the Smasher was right. He was giving up without a fight, and it wasn't like him at all. He seemed incapable of putting out any effort.

"_You are acting like a child. Are you just going to let them do this to you? We both know that they will kill you when they have finished whatever they are doing." _Meta Knight's deep voice rang true. But what could Chris do? The guards made a point of never coming within ten feet of the cell. Even when they gave him food, they slid it through a hole in the wall. The thralls were wary of him, and were taking every precaution.

"What should I do, then?"

"_Bide your time, and ready yourself for battle. I sense that your friends are already working on getting you out. Stop wasting blood and energy on punching walls." _

Chris sighed. He sat down on his bed and stared out through the bars. His chance would come, eventually. In the meantime, he decided that making a plan would be in his best interest.

As he thought about what he would do when the bars released him, a siren rang out. A bright red emergency light on the wall lit up, almost blinding Chris. _"Prisoner escaped," _said a robotic voice over the intercom. _"Level three, interrogation chamber number five. Prisoner is highly dangerous. Guards are asked to investigate. Lethal force has not been authorized."_

Chris grinned. Someone had made it out, it seemed. _"Do you know who escaped?" _he thought to Meta Knight.

"_It would seem that Leon has broken out. But something is different about him… I cannot be sure if it is good or bad at this point. Be on guard." _

"_What's different about him?" _Immediately an image appeared in his mind. It was Leon, glowing red with energy. His eyes blazed crimson, his teeth bared in a savage snarl. Two dead men lay on the floor behind him. At least, their bodies did. Their heads, detached from their torsos, pooled blood around Leon's bare feet. Chris could tell that his friend had been tortured harshly. His face was covered in blood and sweat, one eye swollen and black. Blood ran down his back from fresh wounds, but in his eyes burned a fire that hungered for violence and revenge. For once in life, Chris was scared of another human.

Then Leon's bloodstained hands gripped his head and he groaned with pain. His head thrashed violently from side to side, as if he was fighting a battle within himself.

"What the hell is going on?!" Chris shouted, and the image disappeared, though he knew it would haunt him.

….

"Stop!" Leon shouted at Akareth. "Stop controlling me!"

"_You need me if you are to escape," _the ancient shadow said calmly.

"You're insane! I can't let you destroy everyone here!"

"_Why do you protest my methods? These thralls are your enemies, and so they must die. And your so-called friends are weak, unnecessary. They are a burden to you." _

"They're my friends, and I'm not letting you kill them. I don't care how powerful you are, nobody is going to hurt them!"

"_Ah, always the noble hero, eh? Do you have any idea how strong I really am? Now that the seal has been broken, there is nothing to stop me from simply taking over your consciousness." _

"Nothing except me," Leon replied defiantly.

"_Do you honestly think you can suppress me? Even your ancestor, strong as he was, could barely defeat me." _

"Then it's a good thing I'm not him."

"_You're an arrogant child, aren't you? I will break you, Leon. You'll never resist my power." _

"I beg to differ. You're in my head, and I'm in control here. The only way you'll defeat me is by killing me, and since I don't have any relatives, you'd be killing yourself." He could feel Akareth's barely controlled anger.

"…_You make a good point. But we both know that you need me. Everything remarkable about you was caused by me. Your natural skill and strength, your endurance. None of it would have been possible if not for me. That little incident about the secret cave? That was one of my old hideouts." _

Leon almost gasped. It all made sense now. He himself had never done anything amazing. It had all been Akareth, his strength keeping Leon alive. Even when he had been chosen, Ike had helped him. It was always someone else watching his back, always someone else lending him strength. He was pathetic.

"_Now I see you understand. You are nothing but my puppet, a stupid human with no other purpose than to serve me. Give up, and set me free. Fulfill your destiny and unleash me upon the world, and I will once again reign." _

"_No." _Leon said, clenching his fists. His voice was deceptively calm, masking his anger.

"_You would dare refuse me? The one who saved your life? Release me, now!" _

"No. You are nothing but a demon, no matter how powerful you are. And you have no hold over me."

"_Release me!" _Akareth roared, sending a chill down Leon's spine. But the boy didn't flinch.

"Go to hell." Leon severed the connection. The red aura around him fizzled out, and his eyes returned to their normal steel grey. The pain returned, but he ignored it. Clenching his teeth, Leon drew a knife from one of the bodies. It was a well-balanced blade, and it fit his grip perfectly. He set off down the hallway, bare feet slapping on the floor, leaving a trail of blood behind him.

….

"It's okay, Vui, I think I'm good to walk now," said Gammic, pulling himself away from her.

"Are you sure?" Vui asked. "You looked like you were gonna pass out there."

Her friend smiled. "I've been fine for a few minutes, now. I just wanted to enjoy it a little longer." Understandably, this was answered by a quick punch in the arm. The two began to jog down the corridor to their destination. They ran into only a single thrall along the way, who was dispatched easily. Before he died, Gammic placed a hand on his head and extracted the man's knowledge of the prison's layout.

"Where are they all?" Vui asked suspiciously.

"Probably going to investigate the escaped prisoner."

"Do you think Leon can hold off all of them without a weapon?"

"Maybe. We shouldn't delay, though. There's no telling when they'll find him, and if Leon doesn't take them down, we'll be next." Vui nodded in agreement and the two kept running.

A few minutes later, they reached a room whose door held the inscription, "Prisoner Belongings." They entered and found all their weapons there, including the ones they had just gotten. Their outfits were there, too. Gammic didn't want to think about how the thralls had gotten them off and replaced them with rags. He simply slipped his purple robe over his clothing and picked up his staff, glad to have it back in his hands.

The mage respectively turned away as Vui changed and put on her belt of knives. She paused for a moment and picked up Dark Aether, slinging the heavy sword across her back. At Gammic's questioning gaze, she replied, "If we run into Leon, he'll need a weapon." Her companion nodded.

"We'll bring the others back here when we get them out, then we'll find Hikari and confront her." With that, the two left the room and quickly consulted Gammic's mental map for directions. When they were sure of their route, they set off once more.

When they finally reached the warden's office, Gammic conjured up dust on his hand to mirror that of a thrall's and pressed it into the scanner. Alarm bells rang out loudly, startling the Chosen. A robotic voice said, _"Warning. Attempted access into Warden's office. Access has been denied. All guards are ordered to investigate."_

Vui cursed. Pushing Gammic out of the way, she knelt down in front of the scanner and pulled out a small case from her pocket. She opened it and selected the necessary tools to hack into the scanner's technology. Loud footsteps echoed through the passage, and thralls began to flood into the hallway. Vui cursed again. "Gammic, you need to hold them off until I can hack the lock. Just keep them away from me, okay?"

The mage nodded and took a battle stance. He held his staff in his right hand and kept his stance low, arms held out to the sides. It looked rather foolish, but Gammic knew that this stance helped with the flow of magic through his body. The thralls dropped their guns and drew heavy batons. Clearly they were under orders not to kill any of the Chosen. The thought made Ganondorf's chosen smile. Unfortunately for them, he had no such boundaries.

As the first wave approached, Gammic swung his staff almost lazily, casting a hex that knocked over the first line of attackers. The thralls were quickly stampeded and killed accidentally by their allies, who rushed forward blindly. The boy seized this momentary pause and drew a line across the floor with his staff. When he was finished, he extended his hand toward it, and black fire erupted from the line. Thralls advanced forward, walking straight into the inferno. Ash quickly collected on one side of the line.

Gammic knew that the barrier wouldn't last forever. While the enemies rushed to their doom, he hurled curses into the crowd, the spells disintegrating much of what they hit. Screams quickly filled the air, along with the sickly smell of burning flesh. The barrier began to deteriorate, the flames fading fast.

He was beginning to sweat, both from exertion and from worry about what might happen if he faltered. But he held the line stubbornly, repelling attacks and dishing out damage. After what seemed like hours, he heard Vui shout, "It's done! Get inside!" Gammic did as he was told, throwing one last hex before running through the doorway. The door shut behind him and he put his hands on his knees, panting.

"That was close," said Vui. Gammic could only nod in reply. The rogue turned and looked around the room. One wall was occupied by small television sets that showed each and every one of the prisoners' cells. It seemed that only the Chosen were the only prisoners currently being held there. Vui looked for some kind of release switch.

"Oh, hello! Nice to see you here!" said a familiar voice. Vui turned to see the person she'd wanted to kill since she was captured.

Hikari.

….

Leon quickly dispatched the thrall, slicing his neck open with a backhand stroke of his knife. The man fell dead on the floor, and Leon started running again. That had been the third one he'd seen since he escaped. One of them had had a map of the prison in his vest, and the boy had taken it and was now heading to the Warden's office.

"_Be ready, Leon," _said Ike.

His Chosen didn't reply, just kept running. He was going to confront Hikari and finally get some answers. He didn't understand why she'd betrayed them, and he was torn between blindly trying to murder her and wanting to get information.

No matter what, Hikari would answer for her betrayal.

….

Vui stared in fury at her former friend. Hikari smiled venomously at her.

"Surprised to see me, Vui?" she asked.

"You heartless traitor," growled Vui, drawing her knives.

"Still as foolish as ever, I see." Hikari slid her long sword out of its sheath and gripped it with both hands. Gammic stood up and settled into his battle stance, his gaze tired but hateful. "And the wannabe wizard, too! Do you guys really think you can take me?"

"You can't fight both of us," said Gammic. "No matter how strong you are."

"We'll see about that." Hikari leapt forward and swung her blade diagonally. The mage blocked it with his staff and countered by hurling a hex from his left hand. His opponent easily dodged it and swung again, this time at Vui. The rogue deflected the strike with one knife and slashed with the other, drawing a long cut across Hikari's arm.

She ignored it and rushed Gammic again, her quick strikes forcing him to give ground. He was so busy blocking and parrying that he couldn't counterattack. He swung his staff to block Hikari's vicious stroke, but the girl reversed it at the last minute and smashed the butt of her sword into the mage's temple, knocking him out cold.

Vui cursed violently. She managed to keep dodging Hikari's attacks, but the giant sword on her back somewhat limited her movement. She couldn't hold out for much longer, not against an opponent as fierce as Hikari.

….

Leon was met with little resistance while he ran, which surprised him. He could see the door to the Warden's office now, and he increased his pace. He noticed the dead bodies piled around the lock, as well as the smoldering piles of ash. Every single thrall in the whole place must've been lying there. Some of the corpses looked fresher, with decapitated heads instead of burnt ashes and broken limbs.

The whole area reeked of blood and sweat. He was already trying to stay awake as his head swam, and the stench wasn't helping. Leon could hear clanging noises and battle cries on the other side of the door. He was in no shape for a real fight, he knew, but there was no other alternative. He smashed the lock and entered.

….

Vui dodged yet another stroke of Hikari's blade. "Why are you doing this?!" she shouted angrily, retaliating with her knife.

"You wouldn't understand!" Hikari shouted back, pausing for a moment.

"Why would you betray us, Hikari?" pressed Vui. "We were your friends, we helped you!"

"None of that matters now."

"Then what _does _matter, huh?! You're helping the man who's trying to take over the world! Do you even know why you're helping him?"

"Of course I do!"

"So, none of us ever mattered to you?"

"Not at all. You're just obstacles that need to be removed."

"Not even Leon?" Hikari froze for a moment at the name, and Vui could see that she had hit a nerve. "Do you know what they were doing to him? They were torturing him, Hikari. _They ripped his fucking skin off. _All because of you."

"You're lying!" Hikari retorted. "You have to be! Espirus swore that he wouldn't hurt him."

"You're taking the word of a mass murderer over that of your friend? Do you know how fucked up that is?"

"We are no longer friends, Vui. We never really were."

"I don't care. I don't want to kill you, Hikari, but I will if that's necessary."

"Oh, believe me, it's necessary." They rushed each other once again, but before their blades connected, Hikari let out a grunt and fell to the ground. In her place stood Leon, one hand raised and no emotion in his grey eyes. Vui stopped mid-step, staring in shock.

"Leon! Did you just-"

"She's not dead, just unconscious."

"I thought you were overrun by thralls or something! Are you alright?"

Leon almost laughed. "Do I _look _like I'm alright? I'll be honest; I'm in an insane amount of pain." He said this all very calmly. If it weren't for his visible injuries, Vui would have thought he was joking. "I'm using all my energy to stay conscious." He coughed loudly. "But if I don't get bandaged up, I probably won't survive for much longer." The Chosen slumped against the wall, still without any emotion, and shut his eyes.

Vui quickly got up and checked his pulse. It was there, faint as it was. Thinking quickly, she ran back to the Prisoner Belongings room and grabbed Will's pack. She dug her hand inside and found what she was looking for: a large bundle of bandages. The rogue ran back to Leon as quickly as possible and wrapped up as many of his wounds as she could, watching blood immediately stain the bandages. Hopefully that would stop the bleeding.

Satisfied that she had done all she could, she checked Gammic's pulse. His was much stronger, thankfully. Hikari was alive, too, though she'd probably wake up with one hell of a headache. Vui kicked her hard in the side just to make sure she was out. The girl then decided to find the button that would release her friends.

It turned out the "button" was really a complex computer program. After about ten minutes of trying to hack it, Vui was successful. Every cell in the building opened, and the very confused Chosen walked out. Vui decided to have a little fun.

She found the intercom button and pressed it. Into the microphone, she said, "Attention! All chosen are to report to the Warden's office! By the way, you are now to refer to Vui as the 'Queen of Thieves.' Have a nice day!" Over the TV screens, she could see most of the other Chosen either shaking their heads or rolling their eyes.

….

When everyone finally arrived, Leon and Gammic had woken up. The former was staring at Hikari, wondering how everything had gone so wrong.

"What do we do with her?" asked Will, crossing his arms over his chest.

"We wait until she wakes up," said Leon. "Then we'll get some answers." The Chosen left to retrieve their things from the Prisoner Belongings room, and Leon wrapped his chain around Hikari's arms and legs so that when she woke up, she wouldn't rip his head off.

When everyone was ready, the Chosen stood at the entrance to the prison. Leon was carrying Hikari, cradling her in his arms. Chris looked in his direction uncertainly, but said nothing. They walked off, leaving the prison deserted.

….

…**For some reason, I'm just not satisfied with the ending of this chapter. I don't really know why, either. Anyway, I thought I'd explain some of the things I did in this chapter. **

**Leon was showing no emotion toward the end because he didn't know how to feel. The girl he likes betrays him and his friends, and he knocks her out cold. And now he's not really sure how he feels about her. **

**Hikari killed the remaining thralls before she entered the Warden's office, that's why no one else was met with any resistance. **

**Chris isn't sure whether he's scared of Leon or not. **

**That's all I can think of at the moment. This is one of my longest chapters, though, so I am proud! Next time we'll be going back to Coleman's group, because I have seriously been neglecting them. See ya later!**


	22. The Base

**Before I start, I'd like to say a few things. First, I don't know if I'm gonna make a Christmas/holiday/whatever-the-heck-doesn't-offend-you-people special. Maybe I will, maybe I won't. If it's not up by say, December 24, then it's not happening. **

**Second, I'm not even going to try and keep myself to a schedule. I'll write whenever my muse strikes me (which, in all fairness, is happening more often than usual lately), and whenever I actually have the time to write. **

**Third, I'm just gonna start calling R.O.S.E. Rose. Meaning I'm just gonna use the word, "Rose", because R.O.S.E. is a pain to type. **

**Fourth, I want to say thank you to everyone who's been giving me criticism. I know some authors don't like being corrected, but I personally like to know what I'm doing wrong. If you notice something that I screwed up, don't hesitate to tell me. Not to mention that I love reviews :3 **

…**There's no way I can say that without sounding like an idiot, is there? Ah well, here's the next chapter. **

…**.**

Electricity crackled as Rose dodged another blow. With inhuman speed, she quickly followed up with a straight punch to the gut. Her opponent, however, had seen it coming and took a single step back to dodge, throwing Rose off balance. As the force of her swing carried her forward, her opponent seized the opportunity and grabbed the back of her neck. The electricity in his hand mimicked the effect of a Taser, and Rose fell to the ground with a sharp cry.

The robotic girl got to her feet again, glaring at her adversary. "That's not fair, Vince!" she shouted, pouting a little. "You electrocute me every time you land a hit!"

The brown-haired boy gave a small smile. "So? You have insane strength and speed, so I need _some _kind of advantage."

"But electricity, really?"

Vince shrugged. "Hey, don't blame me. You're the one who wanted to spar."

"Yeah, because I thought I could beat you! I mean seriously, besides Lucia, you've got to be the weakest member of the group."

"Harsh."

"Harsh but true," Rose said, gaining some of her old confidence back.

"Clearly it's not, seeing as that's the third time I've beaten you today." And just like that, the spark of confidence went out like a light. Immediately, Vince knew that he shouldn't have said it. Rose was still a kid, after all. The girl walked away from him, scowling deeply.

Vince sighed. _"I never catch a break, do I?" _

"_Nope, not really." _

"_Oh, shut up, Falco," _Vince grumbled. He and Rose had been spending the early mornings sparring for a couple of days now. Rose had suggested it, saying that it would keep them on their toes. Vince disagreed, but once the girl had made up her mind, there was little he could do to change it. He had tried to go easy on her at first, but he quickly learned that Rose was much stronger than she let on, and so he'd stopped holding back. He'd won almost every sparring match, but the girl had always asked for another fight, as if she could somehow prove herself stronger. Now he understood why.

While the boy pondered how to redeem himself, Coleman slowly roused himself from sleep, taking in the cold morning air, the crunch of thin snow under his feet. He could see that Vince and Rose were awake already, but Lucia and Kiara were still fast asleep, the latter looking like she was trying to eat the mat she slept on. The man sighed. He still didn't know what he was going to do with that lazy excuse for a warrior.

Being the oldest of the group, he'd naturally assumed the role of leader. It wasn't a difficult decision, seeing as Lucia and Kiara were irresponsible, and Vince and Rose, while powerful and intelligent, simply lacked experience. Coleman had taken to calling the shots in the group, whether it was in battle or in deciding responsibilities for the day. As such, it was also his job to keep everyone on schedule. In Kiara's case, that was becoming increasingly difficult. It took him nearly twenty minutes every day to get her up without being too rough. However, this really cut into the time they could've spent walking to their destination.

"_Screw it," _Coleman thought. _"If she's going to be one of us, she needs to start pulling her own weight." _The large man walked over to Vince. "Hey, go wake up Lucia, alright? We need to get going." The brown-haired boy didn't respond, clearly deep in thought. Coleman shook him by the shoulder. "Hey, did you hear me?"

This time Vince seemed to snap out of his daze. "Huh? Oh, sure," he said, blinking quickly. He jogged over to Lucia's mat and began to try to gently shake her awake. Coleman rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

"_Something's up with him…" _he thought, and then dismissed it with a shake of his head. _"Bah, I'll ask him later." _He walked over to Kiara, unconsciously sliding his knife a little farther out of its sheath so that it was within easy reach. Instead of trying to wake her up gradually, Coleman simply poked her with his boot. The girl didn't react in the slightest. With a small frown, he kicked her hard in the gut.

Kiara grunted and rolled off her mat, scowling at Coleman. "What the heck, man? I was sleeping!"

The man didn't seem to notice. "Just get ready to go. We're leaving in ten minutes, with or without you." With that, he left to find Rose. Kiara turned back to her mat.

"_Well, ten minutes _is _a rather long wait…" _she thought, drifting off to sleep.

….

Coleman found Rose sitting cross-legged under a tree, its branches frozen and covered in snow. The girl had her back turned to him, and she said nothing. Samus's Chosen walked over and put a hand on her shoulder. "What's wrong?" he asked, trying to sound sympathetic.

"I'm a weakling, that's what's wrong," she snapped back, not turning to face him.

"Weakling? Who said you were weak at all?"

"Well, nobody, but it's true."

"Why the heck would you think that?"

"I'm pathetic! I'm the worst member of the group; I can't even beat Vince!"

Coleman was surprised. Rose was usually so confident, so ready to fight. To see her like this was shocking. He couldn't think of anything appropriate to say, so instead he decided to just listen.

"I mean, I bet even Lucia could beat me!" Rose continued, her eyes beginning to tear up. "I'm always the first one to rush in and the first to run away. I get the crap beaten out of me in every single fight!"

"Hey, don't be so hard on yourself," the man replied, sitting next to her. "You're still a kid, after all." This was answered by a strong punch in the arm. "Ouch! What was that for?"

"I'm not a kid!"

"Clearly! I'm a grown man and that hurt!"

Rose smiled a little. "At least I can do that."

"Why are you being like this?" Coleman asked, rubbing his arm.

"Like I said: I can't even beat Vince. How am I supposed to defend myself?"

"Well, for one, let me point out that Vince would be very angry to hear you say that. Also, you're not exactly defenseless. Just the fact that R.O.B. chose you is a testament to your strength. Not to mention you can throw one hell of a punch and you're a pretty good shot with that blaster of yours."

"You're such a liar."

"Oh, am I? I've seen you shoot birds right out of the sky with that thing, _and _you managed to cut through a whole army of Primids just to get to me and Kiara. That sounds pretty strong to me."

"Lucia and Vince helped, though."

"Still, that's impressive. Don't be so tough on yourself, alright? It's not healthy." Coleman stood up and began to walk back toward camp.

"Hey, Coleman." The man turned. "Thanks for that. I guess I just needed a pep talk or something."

He grinned. "Don't mention it." When Rose nodded with a smile, he said, "I'm serious, Rose. I've still got a reputation, you know." The girl rolled her eyes.

"_You are _such _a softie, you know that?" _Samus's voice echoed in his head.

"_I know nothing of the sort." _

….

When everything had been taken care of, the Chosen finally moved on. They moved at a rather sluggish pace, trying to find easy paths through the snow to no avail. They were constantly getting their feet stuck in deep snow drifts, leading to a few minutes of trying to pull one another out. After about twenty minutes, they'd gone maybe half a mile.

Forty-five minutes of complaining and cursing later, they reached a small ridge. As Coleman neared the top, he could look over a long valley ahead of them, covered in snow that sparkled in the light. It was beautiful, in a way. Peaceful and serene, nature almost untouched by human hands. The man couldn't help but admire the view, but as he cast his gaze over the landscape, he noticed a small settlement in the distance. "Come on," he told the others, his curiosity getting the better of him.

A few minutes later, they could see the settlement clearly. Coleman advised the group to hide behind a snow bank, unsure if the inhabitants were hostile. Rose lay on a sheet of ice a few feet away, using R.O.B.'s robotic vision to investigate while still staying hidden.

It seemed a fairly basic place at first glance, with a few buildings scattered around seemingly random locations. But when you actually paid attention to the place's surroundings, it was much more interesting. A tall concrete wall, about eight feet high and topped with barbed wire, formed a perimeter around the settlement. In the center stood a large, red, square building that looked far more recent than the rest. It seemed like someone had taken a great chunk of red iron from the earth and cut it so that it was a perfect cube with no windows, only a crimson door in the center of one wall. With R.O.B.'s enhanced vision, Rose was able to see that men patrolled every corner of the settlement. They carried automatic weapons and wore vests loaded with knives and what she assumed were grenades.

"_A military base?" _she thought.

"Well?" asked Coleman. "What's in there? Are they hostile?" As if on cue, a hailstorm of bullets passed over their heads, narrowly missing the man's hat.

"Hostile!" Rose shouted over the loud gunshots. "Definitely hostile!"

….

**Okay, I know this is a short chapter compared to others, but it'll pick up next time. And for the record, no, I am not trying to pair up Coleman and Rose romantically. That would be wrong on so many levels.**

**Also, I have absolutely no idea if R.O.B. has enhanced vision or not, but for this story we'll assume he does. **

**I really have fun writing this group, they just have such different personalities that it works really well. Anyway, watch out for the next chapter, as it contains a vital plot point. And, if you didn't notice, I finally got around to fixing up chapter one, so hopefully it's a bit better now. If I can, I want to redo chapter two as well. **

**Anyway, I'll see you guys later!**


	23. Fere

**Here we go. In the last chapter, we showed Coleman's nice side. Now I'm gonna show the side I like better: the badass warrior side. **

**Now let's do this!**

…**.**

A shadow's quiet footsteps echoed throughout the halls of Battleship Midnight, his pitiful whimpering exposing his fear. He knew that he was likely not to live through his mission, short as it was. It seemed simple: deliver a message to Lord Espirus that his prisoners had escaped. But Espirus's temper was short, and any bad news might set him off. Under normal circumstances, his anger was frightening, but when knowledge reached him that his master plan had failed, it would be miraculous if there were no fatalities.

These thoughts raged through the shadow's mind as he ran, his eyes darting left and right but seeing nothing except the cold metal of the ship. If he had had a heart, it would have been beating rapidly in his chest. His ethereal hand trembled as he pushed the throne room door open. He saw Espirus lounging in his chair, his two lieutenants by his side. On his right was the red wisp, humanoid but wavering like a flame as it laughed. On his left was the blue, more controlled than its counterpart and staring with its blazing yellow eyes directly at the shadow, as if it knew exactly what was coming.

Espirus's head flicked up when he noticed the shade in the doorway. "What is it, imp?" he asked, his fanglike teeth bared in a grin. "Have we finally broken that boy with the demon's mark?"

The shadow gulped and said with a quavering voice, "N-no, Master." The grin disappeared as the Lord of Shadows sat up in his throne.

"Then what is so important that you needed to tell me?" his voice was hard, his eyes narrowed.

"I-it's about the p-prisoners, my lord. They've escaped."

"_What?!"_

"T-they've escaped, Master. They-"

"How?" roared Espirus, standing now, his voice radiating hatred and anger.

"They overpowered them, Master. Every thrall inside was dead, and their belongings were gone with them."

"Wasn't Hikari with the thralls? Why didn't she stop them?"

"The boy with the mark, Leon, knocked her unconscious. H-he killed the torturer and his assistants as well. He m-might have learned how to channel the demon's power."

"This is impossible. No one can control something that powerful, not even me."

"Perhaps the boy is stronger than-"

"What did you just say?" asked Espirus, his voice dripping with venom.

"I, er.."

"Do you mean that Leon, an insignificant teenager with an attitude problem, is more powerful than _me?!_"

"O-of course not, Lord Espirus! I-I would never- Agh!" the shade exclaimed as Espirus's hand shot out and gripped his neck tightly.

"You are lucky to have survived for this long, imp," the man breathed, tightening his grip while his tone softened. "And you have been through so much, seen so many horrid things. Let me put an end to your suffering." Black tendrils, barely visible in the low light and against the shadow's smoke like form, began to extend from Espirus's forearm. They slowly snaked their way across the limb, heading for the shadow's startled face.

"N-no, please, master, don't kill me! I-I don't want to die!" he screamed, but his words fell upon deaf ears. Espirus kept tightening his hold on his servant's throat, and the tendrils crept ever closer, increasing their pace.

"Shh, it's alright," said the Lord of Shadows soothingly. "Soon, all your pain will be gone." The shadow screeched louder, begging for mercy again and again. His pleas were ignored. Then the tendrils shot out, straight into the shadow's gaping mouth. Espirus released him then, stepping back as he watched his spell do its work.

The imp lay on the iron floor, convulsing and twitching violently against the cool metal. Yellow foam gathered at the corners of his mouth, and the black outline of his shape bulged. Suddenly, the bulging areas erupted, black tendrils bursting out. The shadow screamed in agony, a sound that would have caused most to cover their ears to try and keep it out. His face, now mangled by the spell, was unrecognizable as he screeched, and the smell of charcoal wafted through the air. Espirus simply watched, grinning, as it all happened.

A few agonizing minutes later, it stopped. Now the imp's body was completely gone, and in his place was a mass of black tendrils writhing on the floor. The blue wisp turned to face his master. "What should we do about the prisoners?" he asked, his voice like shifting sand.

"I believe it's time we stopped going easy on them, Fere," Espirus replied without turning around.

"You don't mean-"

"No, not that. At least not yet. It's not that serious at the moment, so we may be able to stop this before it starts. Imynd, order the thralls to stop using those tranquilizers, and start using real ammunition."

The red wisp bowed deeply, her long hair touching the floor, and said in a strangely pleasant voice, "I take it that lethal force is now authorized for all trespassers?" Espirus nodded.

"I no longer have the patience to try to turn those so-called Chosen to my side. Better to simply kill them all and be done with it."

"And Leon?"

"When you find him, bring me back his head. I don't want news that he died, I want proof."

"Why is that so important?" Espirus turned around to face his lieutenant, a snarl present on his face.

"Do I need to explain how powerful the demon is?" Imynd stayed silent, yellow eyes staring at the ground. Her master continued, "That monster, Akareth, not only conquered nearly all the world and discovered the secret of eternal life, but he also killed millions of strong, capable warriors while he was doing so. Only one man could stand against him: Leon's grandfather. Not only did he defeat the demon, he trapped him inside his own essence. Think about that. Imagine the power needed to perform such a feat, to trap a warrior as strong as or stronger than I inside another great swordsman. Now, think about the combination of those two fighters, unmatched by any other. That is what we would be up against, should Leon gain complete dominance over Akareth. That is why he needs to be killed _now_."

Imynd shuddered. Espirus was incredibly strong, and imagining that there was one even stronger than he was all but impossible for her. "I see," she said, trying to hide her shock. She could see in her master's eyes that he saw right through her façade, but she tried to remain composed anyway. Espirus turned to Fere.

"Go to base Z-42. There are rumors of a group of Chosen running around there, and I want you to take them out as soon as possible." The wisp nodded and vanished in a flurry of Shadow Bugs.

"Where should I go, my lord?" asked Imynd.

"Stay here. The Chosen are becoming more organized, more powerful. If they all attack at once, I'll want you here to try and take over their minds." His lieutenant nodded and slumped back into her small throne.

….

"What do we do now?!" shouted Rose over the loud gunfire. She yelped as one bullet came a bit too close for comfort and ducked behind a thick snowdrift.

Coleman swore as a bullet whizzed by his leg. He fought back the natural urge to panic and tried to organize his thoughts. From the sound of the guns, he guessed that they were AK-47s, the weapon of choice for rebels and mercenaries. Good assault rifles, but they weren't particularly accurate at their current range. However, the group would need to get closer to actually fight. But did they even _need _to fight? After all, they'd just come across the base on their way to the ruins. It wasn't like there was something they needed in there…

"_Actually, there is some very important information inside the main building," _said Samus. _"Trust me; you're going to need it." _

Okay, so maybe there was. "Exactly what kind of information are we talking about here?" Coleman whispered.

"_Something to help you take down Espirus, as well as one of his top lieutenants. If you can defeat him, Espirus will be weakened."_

"How do you know all this?"

"_In my current state, I can go anywhere and see anything within a ten-mile radius of you, but I can't communicate with anyone besides you or physically change anything." _

"Interesting…" said Coleman, thinking of what he would do with that ability.

"_Hey!" _shouted Samus. _"Get your head in the game!" _

"Sorry." The man thought for a moment, trying to decide his next move. He watched the random pattern of bullets flying overhead, where most of them were fired. They seemed to be aimed mostly at the spot where Rose had first shouted that there were hostiles. He poked his head around the snowdrift and tried to pinpoint any shooters, but he couldn't see any of them through the wall, although there were bullets flying over the top of the barrier.

"_They can't see us," _he realized. _"They're shooting by sound alone."_ Then the man got an idea. There was a gate to the west, and if they could distract their foe, they might be able to slip in undetected. "Vince!" he shouted. The boy looked up from the snowdrift he was hiding behind, and then ducked as a bullet passed an inch from his face. "Try and throw a lightning bolt over there to distract them!" Coleman pointed to the east. Vince's head poked up over the edge of his cover and made a quick, almost imperceptible nod. Coleman braced himself for action and called to his companions to follow suit. "Get ready and keep quiet," he said, hoping that the enemy wouldn't hear him through the wall.

When they heard the crack of thunder, the Chosen set off like sprinters. Kiara struggled to keep up with her comrades, heavy black boots sinking deep into the soft snow as she ran. Lucia had trouble as well, as she was only slightly taller than the snow. Eventually, Coleman slung her over his shoulder and kept running, ignoring her protests. It was only about a hundred meters to the entrance, but it took them a couple of minutes to close the distance. Once they reached the gate, the group stopped to catch their breath.

"What's the plan, Coleman?" asked Rose. The man took a peek inside the compound. Their foes were still firing in the direction of the thunder.

"_How stupid are these guys?" _Coleman wondered.

"_They're thralls," _said Samus. _"They're under Espirus's control, so they have very little say in what they can do. They can only follow the simplest commands, and without their leader they'll shoot blindly at any noise they ear."_

"_Think we can reach the main building while they're distracted?"_

"_No, it's too far. They'll see and kill you easily."_

"_But if we go out there and fight, we'll be killed. What do we do?"_

"_You and Kiara need to go out there and wreak some havoc, then have Vince, Lucia, and Rose sneak in. They won't shoot, I promise you." _Coleman frowned.

"_How do you know that?"_

"_Just trust me, okay?"_

The man sighed. "Kiara! Come on, we're gonna bash some skulls." She smiled and twirled her cane.

"What are we waiting for? Let's go!" Kiara charged into the crowd, setting everything ablaze with Hellfire.

"Vince, you take the girls and sneak into the red building. Try to avoid combat if possible, alright? I really don't need you guys to come out looking like Swiss cheese."

"Got it. We looking for information?"

"Yeah, and knowing these guys, it'll probably be heavily guarded. Just get the info and get out. No theatrics, understand?"

"Understood."

"Good, now get going." Without looking back, Coleman followed Kiara's lead, rushing in and firing anything he could from his cannon arm. He pulled his Bowie knife from his belt and held it in his left hand, brutally slashing throats as he fought to hold as many attackers as possible. It seemed Samus was right; the thralls did not fire once they were within fifteen feet of the Chosen. However, they still slashed their knives and smashed the butt of their guns into Coleman and Kiara whenever the chance arose.

Kiara's fighting style was insane, a slashing, sweeping, fiery dance of death that captivated her enemies as easily as it killed them. It was difficult not to watch as she spun, hurling fire and lightning, slashing foes right and left. Not to be outdone, Coleman took it up a notch. With a roar, he swung his cannon arm and effectively dispatched one man with a strike to the head. He raised his arm again and fired missiles into the crowd, knocking thralls off their feet and then blowing them to pieces. It barely made a dent, no matter how many he killed. "We can't hold them off forever!" he shouted to Kiara.

"Not like this we can't!" she called back. "Stop holding back, would ya?"

"_Holding back?" _Coleman thought. _"How can I fight harder than this?" _

"_You know you can, Coleman," _said Samus. The man closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

"_Fine__, no more Mr. Nice Guy." _When his eyes opened again, there was something different there. Where there had been mercy and compassion, now there was rage and vengeance. He rushed like a bull toward one thrall and tackled him, driving his knife into the man's throat. He stood up, turned, and fired a charged blast from his right arm, burning a large hole in another thrall's chest. As the men charged Coleman again, he swung the cannon like a baseball bat and knocked a man to the dirt. The thralls tried to overpower him, but he refused to be held down and threw them off.

Kiara was slightly impressed. Coleman was strong, that was for sure, but she wasn't going to let him have all the fun. With a laugh, she charged the crowd, swinging her cane menacingly.

….

Vince peeked out from behind a building, keeping an eye out for any thralls. When he was sure that none were present, he signaled for Lucia and Rose to follow. They were almost to the main building in the complex, and they were nervous that Coleman and Kiara had missed a few enemies. Rose kept a hand on her blaster the whole time, and Vince's hands sparked with electricity.

Despite their worries, they made it to the building without any incidents. Vince ushered the girls inside, and the Chosen found themselves in an empty, square room made out of the same red iron as the exterior of the building. Rose and Lucia walked to the center of the chamber, confused.

Then the door slammed shut behind them. Red bars shot up from the floor, forming themselves into a cage and separating the girls from Vince. "What the hell?!" he shouted, jumping back.

Then a quiet chuckle echoed around the room, and Shadow Bugs emerged from the floor, combining into a vaguely humanoid form. "I cannot believe you fell for that," said the being as it became more defined. It slowly turned from deep purple to blue, yellow eyes opening in its face. "Honestly, I was lead to believe that you were smarter than this."

"Who are you?" Vince asked, taking a fighting stance. The being did not react the same way; it only smiled and folded its arms.

"My name in this dimension is Fere. I go by other names in other places, but they all know me as the same thing: fear, terror, horror."

"So… You're an emotion, is that right?"

"In a manner of speaking, yes. I am fear embodied, and none can escape my sight."

"Bullshit."

"You doubt me? How can I let you know the real danger you are in?"

"What am I afraid of?"

"An easy question, that. You fear your father, for one. You fear not being strong enough, and the idea of your friends getting hurt both angers and terrifies you. Truly a noble hero, eh?" Then his grin widened. "Oh, but do you not also fear spiders and heights? Hmm, not quite so noble after all."

"How the hell did you know all that?"

"I told you already," Fere said, frowning. "I am fear itself. You cannot kill me, you cannot escape me. I am immortal."

Vince shuddered involuntarily. Fear embodied? How the hell was he going to fight him, let alone defeat him?

"Ha!" laughed the spirit. "And now you fear even me! A wise choice, dog breath."

"_He's lying, Vince," _said Falco. _"He's just trying to scare you so you won't go after him to get Lucia and Rose."_

"You know," said Fere, "Espirus has given me a mission to kill you. A mission which, make no mistake, I will complete. But first, why don't we have a little fun?" He snapped his fingers, and the cage containing the girls disappeared. "They will be in the lowermost area of this building. Get there in one piece, and you can take them and go. However, my men will be patrolling every single level, and unlike those idiot thralls in the courtyard, these men can think for themselves and make decisions based on the situation. Let's see how you fare against trained fighters, eh?" With a laugh, Fere's form collapsed back into Shadow Bugs, who then scattered and burrowed into the floor. In the center of the chamber, the floor sank down and formed itself into steps.

Vince swore. It had been his job to protect the younger members of the group, and he had gotten them kidnapped instead. He glared at the stairs heading down, as if it were their fault. His gloves sparked in response to his anger, producing visible electricity that ran up and down his arms. With hatred in his eyes, he started down the red iron steps.

The room the greeted him was square, red, and empty except for a single guard armed with a silenced pistol and a machete strapped to his back. When he saw Vince, he raised the gun to fire, but before he could pull the trigger, the boy hurled a lightning bolt that struck him square in the chest and killed him instantly. Ignoring the smell of burned flesh, he took the man's weapons. He holstered the pistol on his belt and held the machete in his right hand. It was a good, balanced blade, he decided. About a foot and a half long and razor sharp, it was a force to be reckoned with. _"I'm keeping this," _Vince thought, and he searched for a way to advance.

There were no doors, no stairs, not even a vent. In his frustration, the boy kicked the floor hard. Instead of the pain he had been expecting, he felt a tile move. Surprised, he moved it again. He could see another room under it, lit by an electric light. Sure enough, there was a guard patrolling in that room as well. Unfortunately for him, he was walking right under the hole that Vince had created.

When he passed again, Vince jumped down on top of him and knocked him to the ground, stabbing the machete into his back as he did so. The man didn't even have time to scream. Vince pulled the weapon back out and surveyed the area. It was a long room filled with metal storage boxes, and at the very end, he could see a door.

However, the room was filled with guards, and unlike the man in the floor above, they carried AK-47s instead of pistols. Fortunately, they wore no armor, just T-shirts, camouflage pants, and boots. Near the door, however, stood a man in body armor, holding a shotgun. He would be a tricky opponent.

Vince quickly hid the body inside a container and advanced. The room was like a maze, and he never knew exactly when an enemy would approach. He tried to take all the men down stealthily, but once, after he'd slashed the machete into the neck of one man, another turned around and saw him. Using the dead body as a shield, Vince quickly drew his pistol and fired twice before the man could get a direct shot. The bullets hit him in the chest, taking the man out with little noise. The incident had rubbed his nerves raw, however, and now he aimed his gun at any little sound he thought he heard. He avoided using electricity whenever he could, as it crackled loudly and would give away his position in an instant.

Eventually, only the armored man remained. Unlike his friends, he knew that Vince was inside, and so was extremely cautious. The boy had studied him carefully, and now he knew that the man had no armor around the neck. With this weak point in mind, he came up with a plan.

Vince crouched behind a large container about fifteen feet to the man's left. When the man looked away from his position, Vince hurled a lightning bolt on the other side of the room. The energy crackled on impact, sending a loud _Bang_ reverberating throughout the room. Vince's enemy ran towards it, shotgun raised, and the boy attacked.

As the man ran, Vince followed closely and grabbed his neck from behind. The man cried out in surprise, and Vince immediately sent a large amount of energy through his gloves into his neck. The crying became louder, and Vince increased the charge. Eventually the man slumped to the floor. Vince checked his vitals to make sure he was dead. The man's throat was burned black from electricity, and swollen to the size of a grapefruit. The boy grimaced and opened the door.

He was greeted with a large room full of tables and filing cabinets. There was actually a carpet and decent lighting, a far cry from the bleak metal Vince had gotten used to. Maps covered the walls, and in a corner of the chamber stood a large, red iron cage containing the captured Chosen. Vince ran to his friends.

"Thank God you two are okay!" he said, stopping in front of the bars.

"You look kinda… singed," said Lucia, pointing to Vince's hands. Apparently they'd collected some of the ash from the man's neck when he'd checked him. The boy wiped it on his jeans quickly, slightly disgusted.

"Er, don't worry about that. How do I get you guys out?"

"There's a key on the table over there," Rose said, gesturing. After they were out, she asked, "Where'd you get the knife?"

"I'll tell you later," said Vince, slumping against a wall. "Is Fere gone?" Lucia nodded.

"Yeah. Apparently Espirus needed him for something. I'm just glad he's gone."

"Me too. Well, I'm gonna just crash here for a while. Get Coleman and Kiara, okay?"

"Good, you need to sleep," Rose said, then smiled. "Thanks for saving us, Vince. Maybe you're not so weak after all."

Vince smiled in return and drifted off to sleep.

….

**Whew, glad that's done. Sorry this took so long, but I've been busy. And yeah, no Christmas special this year. Sorry! I'm glad that we got to show Vince a bit more in this chapter. Once again, I kinda neglected this group. **

**I'm actually writing this in the car on my way to Dallas, Texas. I'll try and get this up when I get to my hotel, if it has wi-fi, that is. **

**Also, the word, "Fere," is the old English word for, "Fear," and "Imynd," is a variation of the Middle English word for, "Mind." I thought these were appropriate names for the characters. (Not very creative, I know.)**

**Pronunciation of my non-Chosen OCs so far: **

**Akareth (Ah-kah-reth)**

**Espirus: (Eh-spee-ruhs)**

**Fere: (Feh-reh)**

**Imynd: (Ih-mihnd)**

**I felt like that was necessary, though I don't know why. For some reason, I keep coming up with a few adjectives to describe the OCs' personalities. Examples: **

**Coleman: Tough guy with a soft side. **

**Leon: Defiant smartass. **

**Weird. Sorry for dumping all this random crap on you guys in the A/N. Next group will be Lea's team. Later!**


	24. Making Plans

**Here's the next chapter. I've been reading a book on writing, and I think I'm finally realizing how many huge blunders I've made. I haven't fleshed out the characters **_**at all, **_**I haven't explained why Leon or the rest of them are trying so hard and hell, I haven't even explained why Espirus started this in the first place.** **I'm definitely going to redo early chapters.**

**This is just stupid, I've been writing this for over a year and I haven't even gotten the basics. Ugh. Well, I'm gonna try to fix it, no matter how long it takes. **

**LET'S-A ****ING GO!**

…**.**

Lea's group of Chosen sat around a campfire on the plains, each of them chasing away the dark and their fears with stories of their past. Everyone except for Lea herself. She sat a few feet away from the rest with her head down, pondering what could be done to stop Espirus's otherworldly power.

Noticing his friend, Alex asked Nick, "What's she doing over there?" The pyro shrugged.

"I think she's still trying to figure out how to kill that bastard Espirus," he said as he stoked the fire. "She's really set on it." Marth's Chosen nodded.

"Thanks," he said, patting his friend on the shoulder. He stood and walked over to Lea. "Are you okay?" he asked, sitting beside her.

"Of course I'm not okay!" she snapped without looking at him.

"You're still worried about Espirus, right?" Lea nodded.

"Why wouldn't I be? It's our job to defeat him, and we can't even get close enough to land a hit!"

"If we could just get around that paralysis, we might stand a chance," Alex said, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

"Exactly!" Lea exclaimed. "We need to find out how he does it, and then maybe we can counteract it. The tricky part is that we'd need to get someone inside to spy on him in order to find out any information."

"And that's an issue," Alex muttered, catching on to her plan, "because we don't even know where the damned thing is."

"And even if we did, we'd have to somehow get into the air and onto the ship without them noticing." She groaned, placing her head in her hands. "We're so screwed."

"Hey, don't worry about it," said Alex, awkwardly patting her shoulder. "Let's talk to the others about this. Maybe the Smashers know something that could help." His friend nodded and together they returned to the group. The rest of the Chosen still sat around the fire, laughing as they recounted their stories. Alex cleared his throat to gain their attention. "Hey, we need an action plan. I know you guys probably don't want to think about it right now, but we have to find a way around Espirus's ability. To do that, we need to get inside the ship. Any ideas?" Eddie raised his hand.

"When I was on the battleship, I did quite a bit of sneaking around. Something I found out was that their engine is failing; they needed more fuel or something like that. Anyway, they'll have to set it down somewhere close, so that'll be our chance." Alex nodded.

"Alright, so we know it's nearby. Did anyone see which direction it was headed in?"

"It went south," replied Jake, sharpening his daggers. "It's probably headed to the ruins to cut off the Chosen before we meet up."

"Then we know what we have to do!" said Alex with a grin. "Let's get going!" He started off, but only made it a couple yards before Nick grabbed his shoulder.

"Dude, are you crazy?" he asked. "There's no way we can go after it tonight. Maybe you're not, but the rest of us are tired. If we're gonna do this, we need to be at our full strength in case something goes wrong." Sophie nodded, taking the bandage off her arm to see the wound.

"Besides," she said without looking up. "Espirus and his troops are strongest at night. Not only will they be able to do more damage, but we won't be able to see them in the first place. Unless you want a shadow's knife in your back, I'd advise against it."

"But we don't know if the ship will still be there tomorrow!" Alex retorted. "If we don't do this now, we'll miss our chance!"

"It'll be there," Eddie reassured him. "With a ship that size, it'll take a while to refuel. Tonight, let's make our plans and then leave in the morning."

"…Alright, fine," said the black-haired boy, defeated. "Who's going in?"

"Maybe I should," said Sophie. "I'll be able to see the auras of enemies and find what we need."

"No, I'll go," Lea said, stepping forward.

"Are you sure?" asked Luna, concerned. "I mean, with what happened back at the town, are you sure you can do this?" Lea looked back with a small, sad smile.

"You misunderstand," she said, a determined light in her dark eyes. "That's exactly why I need to do this. I'm gonna make that bastard pay, and this'll get me one step closer."

"She's right," Drey agreed. "This is something she has to do herself."

"It's decided, then," said Jake. "We'll leave tomorrow morning, at dawn if possible. We go south until we find the ship." He pointed at Sophie. "You use Lucario's power to find it, and then Lea goes in and gets the information. We can decide our next move then. Does everyone agree?" he asked, looking around. He was answered by a collective nodding of heads. "Then we're done, and I'm going to bed." With that, Pit's Chosen rolled out his mat and laid down, falling asleep almost instantly.

Lea raised her eyebrows at the older boy, slightly surprised by his initiative. She supposed it was natural that he would be the leader, seeing as he was the oldest, but she'd never really seen him as the type to take control of the situation. Their journey really was beginning to change them in odd ways, some good, and others bad. As the others began to fall asleep, she sat on her mat and thought about what the next day would bring.

Would she go undetected, or would the shades find her? Would she get what she needed, or would the secret elude her? Would she be able to slip out, or would she come face-to-face with Espirus himself? If the latter happened, would she be able to face up to her friend's murderer, or would she fall dead at his feet? These thoughts and more raced through her mind until she was brought back to memories of her best friend who'd died at Espirus's hand. The times they'd spent together, how they'd raced through the streets of town, playing pranks on their other friends. How they'd helped each other face their fears. How they'd grown up side by side, always at each other's backs.

How Espirus's blade had ended her friend's life in an instant.

When Lea's mind came to this last memory, she couldn't help herself. Her eyes began to water, tears dripping onto her mat. She cried for her friend, whose young life had ended while her own continued. She cried for herself, who would be forced to live with the memory that would haunt her for the rest of her life. But most of all, she cried in hatred for Espirus, the man who'd started it all.

As the tears streamed down her face, her sobs brought Jake back to the waking world. He slowly sat up, confused by what had awakened him. As he looked around, he noticed Lea, clutching her knees and crying with eyes squeezed shut. Pit's Chosen got up from his mat and sat next to her. Lea didn't notice, too preoccupied with her thoughts. He put his hand on her shoulder, trying to comfort her as well as he could. The girl opened her eyes and saw the concerned look on Jake's face.

She quickly wiped the tears away, trying to maintain a calm expression. "W-what do you want?" she asked, her voice trembling.

"Why are you crying?"

"I'm not!" Lea protested, but Jake wasn't fooled.

"Come on, you can tell me," he pressed, his hand still on her shoulder. "Let me help you." The girl would have denied it again, but something in Jake's eyes told her that it wouldn't work on him. She looked down at her mat, holding back tears. After a minute of silence, she spoke again. She told Nick about her concerns for the mission, how she was afraid of failing. She told him everything, about her best friend and how she'd died, and as the words came flowing out, so did the tears. Jake just listened in silence, a comforting hand on her shoulder as she let out all the pent up sadness and anger. When she was finished, there were tears running down her face like rivers.

"I'm so sorry about your friend, Lea," Jake said quietly, so that he wouldn't wake the others. "If you don't want to go in there, I won't make you." The girl shook her head rapidly.

"No, I need to do this. There's no way I can just have someone else take care of it without feeling guilty. It has to be me." Jake nodded like he'd been expecting this answer.

"We'll get him, I promise you. We won't let her sacrifice go to waste." He said the words with such finality that no one could have argued. He turned to go back to his mat, but the girl quickly got in front of him and brought him into a brief but tight hug.

"Thanks for helping me sort that out, Jake," she said as she embraced him.

"Any time," the boy replied with a small smile as he was released. He lay down on his mat and as he once again began to fall asleep, he said quietly, "Goodnight, Lea."

"Goodnight."

….

…**I honestly don't know where that came from. I was just typing this chapter and that suddenly popped into my head, so there it is, I guess. *Scratches head nervously* Anyway, I know this is a really short chapter, but I've got the next one (or two, depending on the length) already planned out. I know I had a lot of repetition in that last part, but I was trying to use the repeated words to help the mood. If it didn't work, let me know. **

**Sorry this took a while, but I just started a new Fanfiction in Final Fantasy: Tactics Advance (*sarcasm* Yeah, that's great planning. One multi-chapter is getting in order, so what do I do? Start another one!) and I might make a new one for Skyrim as well. Add that to my Fictionpress story and I've got quite a bit to do. *headdesk* **

**Ah well, I'll see you later!**


	25. Infiltration

**Alright, here we go. Sorry this took a while, I have issues with school and such. Before we start, I'd like to say something about Mary Sues. If I feel an OC is overpowered, I'll try and balance that out with something. Like say, super strength. The character can lift or break just about everything in his path. Sound cool? Damn right it does, but if he'll smash through anything in his way, how do we stop the plot from going off a cliff? Where's the conflict? Well, we have to remedy that. Say he uses his super strength the first time without really knowing what he's doing and he accidentally kills someone and seriously injuries himself while trying to juggle cars or something. Maybe that would work, and create a new plot possibility. You'd have to add more into it to make him a non-Sue, but it's a start. **

**Another one I see a lot: A staff that can change to any type of weapon the character wants. That's a huge Mary Sue trait, but what if she uses it wrong and it blows up, killing her instantly? That's somehow a lot more satisfying for me.**

**I dunno, I just felt like ranting about Sue powers. Anyway, here's the chapter. **

…**.**

Despite Jake's help, Lea had trouble sleeping that night. Unlike earlier, though, it was more from anticipation than fear. When she finally did fall asleep, the fire was burning low, making more smoke than heat. She awoke the next morning to see Eddie already awake, placing bottles into a large backpack.

"What's that?" she asked, standing up and walking over to him.

"Just some medical supplies," he replied looking up. "If it gets ugly, we might need these."

"Philathromorphazine?" Lea asked, picking up one of the bottles. "Do I want to know what this is for?"

"It's for burns," Eddie laughed. "You pronounced it wrong anyway."

"Well, sorry for not being a doctor."

"Just go wake the others, will you? I gotta make sure this stuff doesn't spill out while we search." Lea nodded and made her way over to Alex, his hoodie pulled over his eyes and snoring loudly. She shook him awake and left him to make sure his equipment was in order. By now, Jake had already woken up and was stamping out the campfire. Lea nodded to him in greeting. He returned the gesture and then yelled at Nick to wake up. The boy muttered something and tried to turn over, but Jake ripped the mat out from under him, Nick's face connecting with the dirt.

"Alright alright, I'm up," he muttered. Nick straightened his jacket and pulled a now-broken pair of sunglasses out of his pocket. "Aw, come on! I just got these!"

"I'll get you a new pair later," Jake said with a smile. "Go get the girls up. I'll see about getting breakfast ready." By breakfast he of course meant the half-rotten apples he had stashed in his pack. That had been their main food for several days now, since Pit scolded him every time he hunted an animal. This didn't help Nick's mood, but he nodded anyway and went to wake Luna.

Sophie was already awake, working on something small and blue that she held tightly in her grip. From a few feet away it looked like a sock, but perhaps it was something else. Either way, Lea decided to stay out of whatever it was she was doing. She woke Drey and then after a few apples Nick called for the group to get moving.

Sophie took the lead, eyes closed as Lucario searched for traces of the ship. Nick walked behind her, keeping an eye out for anything he could hurl a fireball at. The others walked behind them, grouped into a sort of cluster. They walked without talking for an hour, eventually going from the plains to a forested area. Tall pine trees towered over them, their scent strangely comforting in the early morning. Birds chirped loudly, and Nick couldn't help but smile when he saw two squirrels chasing each other, jumping from branch to branch of the great trees. The ground was covered with lush undergrowth, big-leafed plants and tall grasses obscuring any paths.

Nick almost threw a fireball at a squirrel when Jake punched him hard in the shoulder. "We're in a forest, stupid! Do you _want_ to start a freaking inferno?"

"Sorry, but is a little target practice really that bad?"

"As much as you need to work on your aim, this is the last place you want to go throwing those things everywhere. Wait till we find the ship; there'll be plenty of targets there." Nick grudgingly shoved his hands in his pockets but made no attempt to argue.

Sophie's ears perked up. "There," she said, pointing to her left. She set off sprinting without another word, the group barely keeping up. Suddenly she held up a hand and stopped, crouching down.

"What are you doing?" Drey asked loudly.

"Shut up!" Sophie snapped. "The ship is right over there, in that clearing." She pointed toward the thick trees on her left.

"I think you're seeing things," Nick said, crossing his arms.

"Through the trees, stupid." Sophie motioned for the others to follow her lead, and slowly they moved through the foliage.

Sure enough, a massive clearing was just past the barrier of trees, and on the far side was the Battleship Midnight. The craft was gigantic, pitch-black and unadorned, simple yet terrifying. Unlike the Halberd, it had no sign of its owner on the hull. It had two massive wings, like a normal airplane, but little else. There were no visible weapons, but knowing the ship's captain, it probably didn't need them. Men walked on and around the ship, carrying pistols, rifles, shotguns, and many other weapons. Jake was pretty sure he saw one with a frying pan.

"So what's the plan?" Luna asked. "I don't think Lea will be able to get past those guards on her own. No offense, of course."

"None taken," the other girl replied. "You're right. And besides, even if I managed to fight my way past them, that would defeat the purpose. Espirus would be alerted, and he'd either leave or kill us all."

"We can't cause a distraction, either," Jake said. "The bastard would find out, and the result would be the same."

"When did Espirus start using real people, anyway?" Eddie asked.

"They're probably thralls," said Sophie, her eyes still fixed on the ship. "All he'd have to do is capture some people and cast a couple spells, and boom! He's got his own private army."

"Aren't thralls really stupid, though?" Nick asked. "Maybe we can use that to our advantage."

"A disguise, maybe," Jake said with a nod. "We just need to take out one thrall, steal his uniform, and then Lea could just walk in. You guys wait here, I'll go look for a new outfit," he said with a smirk. He quickly disappeared into the green.

It was about twenty minutes later when Jake got back.

"What took you so long?" Lea asked.

"Took me a while to hide the body," he replied. He handed her a small bundle. "Here. It's not exactly a fashion statement, but it'll get you inside." Lea held up the clothes, wondering if they'd even fit. Tan pants, a grey shirt, and a red vest. The others respectfully looked away while she changed. The garments were a bit big, but they'd work.

"How do I look?" she asked.

"Still a bit too… feminine," Eddie said. "It's your face that gives it away."

"Here," Sophie said, passing her a bit of blue cloth. "Wrap it around your face from the mouth down, like a mask."

Feeling the soft texture of the fabric, Lea asked, "Wasn't this what you were working on earlier?"

"Yeah, that's it. Since I made it, the fabric carries my aura. So long as you keep that on, I can see where you are from the outside."

"Like a tracking device."

"Exactly."

"That's great and all," Jake jumped in, "but we need to get you inside now. We can't afford to waste any more time out here." He looked at Lea. "If you get into trouble, try to get outside and throw Din's fire into the air. We'll be watching."

"You won't be able to take any weapons except for your knife in there with you," said Eddie. "Try to avoid combat if at all possible. Oh, and take this." He handed the girl a small bottle of bluish liquid. "That's the best medicine I've got; it'll take care of a gunshot wound or a deep cut with no problem. The downside is that that's the only one I have, and it would take me at least a year to make more, so please try not to use it unless you really need to."

"Thanks Eddie," Lea said with a smile as she slipped the bottle into her pocket.

"If you throw Din's fire into the air," Nick began, "I'll answer back, and we'll be there as soon as possible."

"As soon as you find anything important, get out as fast as you can," said Jake, a worried look in his eyes. "Don't take any unnecessary risks. You understand?"

"Yeah, I got it. Don't worry; I'll be in and out before you know it." Lea tied the cloth around her face so that it covered her from her nose to her neck. "I'll see you soon," she said, and began making her way to the ship.

….

**Yet another short chapter. I could've made this longer, but I figured I kept this one long enough. After this series of events is over, I'm going to go back to Leon's group for one chapter so that I can expand on that train of thought. **

**I'm really sorry these take so long, but you can bet this story's not dying. There's no way I'm just going to let this fic shrivel up and die. On that somewhat happy note, I'll say goodbye for now. **


	26. A Turning Point

**Right, here's the next chapter. Now we're starting to get into something I've had planned out since the beginning. (Finally)**

…**.**

Lea adjusted the blue mask around her face, trying to work out how she'd get onboard. She had no idea if the thralls simply walked on in without permission or if she had to wait. Hell, she wasn't even sure if she'd be caught immediately. The thralls were stupid, true, but there may have been officers in their midst who would be able to tell the difference. One misstep, one tiny mistake, and she'd be discovered and likely dead within minutes.

Beginning to sweat, she reached unconsciously for her sword. Panic shot through her when her hand gripped empty air. Fortunately, she remembered the blade hidden in her boot before she completely lost her mind. Lea breathed in deeply, silently cursing her fear while she gripped the hilt.

"_Calm down," _a quiet voice murmured in her mind. _"Watch the thralls. Just follow them until you find a way to Espirus." _

"_Easy for you to say," _Lea replied, but she knew her guardian was correct. She watched the thralls silently for a moment, trying to discern some sign of order in their actions. Most of them seemed to be on guard, though for what she had no idea. At seemingly random intervals, small groups of the thralls carried large metal barrels through the clearing, climbing the landing ramp and disappearing into the massive ship. _"I guess that's the fuel, then," _Lea thought.

She waited until the next group began to take up their barrels and followed suit, trying to avoid the leaking oil dripping out. The container was heavier than it looked, loaded down with the thick liquid as it was. The thralls remained blank-faced as they carried their burden, and Lea was thankful for the covering on her face that masked the signs of exertion. As her boots hit the ramp she began to lose her grip on the load, sweat making it difficult to keep a hold. Zelda lent as much of her strength as she could, but the Hylian princess had never been much for manual labor.

After several minutes of negotiating the tight turns of the ship with the massive barrels, the thralls finally set their burden down in a rectangular room filled with many other such containers. Hardly stopping at all, the mindless men immediately walked to the other end of the coppery chamber and simply stood in a line with other thralls, as if they were awaiting further orders.

At Zelda's urging, Lea did not follow them. She hid behind a barrel near the door, although the thralls paid her no mind anyway. They seemed not to notice one less member in the company, let alone look for the missing person.

"_There's an air vent on your right, about a foot off the floor," _said Lea's guide._ "Once you get inside, I should be able to find a path to Espirus's chamber."_ Lea did as she was told, using the blade of her knife to unscrew the bolts on the vent cover. Thankful for her slim size, she slipped into the narrow opening rather easily. Almost immediately, Zelda had a plan mapped out.

The blue mask on Lea's face collected dust as she crawled through the ventilation system, as did the front of her clothes. The warm metal seared her palms, but she ignored it. She couldn't quite tell if she was sweating because of the temperature, or for anticipation of what was to come. Licking her lips nervously, she continued on her way. As she moved onward, time seemed to slow. Lea couldn't tell how long she had been there, or how long it had been since she had been outside. Everything seemed to meld into one. The only thing that actually seemed real was her guide's voice, directing her through the passages.

After what seemed like forever, Zelda gave a sharp command to stop, snapping Lea back into focus. _"Take a left here, very slowly," _she whispered, even though no one could have heard her.

"_Is this it?" _

"_Yes, this is exactly where you need to be. You're high off the floor here, so take care not to fall through the vent. And there's one more thing…" _

Not liking Zelda's ominous tone, Lea asked, _"What is it?" _

"_This needs to be done quickly, Lea. There's not much time left."_

"_Time? Time for what?" _

"_The spell that allowed me to find you can only last so long. When it's time is up, the Smashers will once again walk the earth." _

"_Isn't that a good thing?" _

"_In a way, yes. We'll have twice our number to combat Espirus, but you'll be at half your former strength." _

"_So we're sacrificing ability for numbers, is that it?" _

"_Basically. Not to mention that if it wears off before you get out, I'll appear next to you. We'll be caught immediately, if we're not suffocated in these vents." _

"_Got it." _Pushing that gruesome thought out of her mind, Lea slowly crept up to the vent to cover and peered out through the tiny openings.

Espirus sat in his red throne, tapping his left hand impatiently on the armrest. On his right, in her own smaller throne, sat the vague shape of a wisp, flickering and wavering like a candle. They listened intently to a blue wisp who stood in the center of the chamber, golden eyes with no pupils focused intently on the Lord of Shadows' face.

"So," rumbled Espirus, his tone betraying no emotion, "you're telling me that you failed to eliminate the group as you were ordered?"

"Yes, my master," the blue wisp replied, equally calm. "They proved more able than expected. The boy Vincent managed to defeat a group of my best men without so much as a scratch, and Franchek left thirteen fighters with no heads."

"And what news is there of the other so-called Chosen? How close are they to the ruins?"

"I suspect that at their current speed they should reach the place within three weeks."

"And Leon? Has he been killed yet?"

"No, master, but Hikari was with them. The boy's foolish sense of honor will likely lead to a duel, one that Hikari will be certain to win."

"If I may be so bold, master," said the red wisp as she sat up in her chair, "I would like to know what happened to the group that boarded the ship three days ago. They _are_ dead, correct?"

"Humans can't survive a fall from three thousand feet, Imynd. Anything left of them is likely just a red spot on the grass."

"O-of course, milord. Forgive me for doubting you, sire, but I must be sure."

"It matters not. In two days we will be in the air again, and a day later we'll be at the ruins. Those fools don't stand a chance." He pointed at the blue wisp. "Fere, you are to stay here in the battleship. I cannot have you or Imynd getting killed. Without you, I am powerless. With you, I am unstoppable." Fere bowed and sat down in the throne left of Espirus.

"_All I needed to hear," _Lea thought with a smile as she began to crawl back out.

….

Jake paced around the camp anxiously. It had been over five hours since Lea had entered the battleship, and he couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. There had been no signal, no contact, although Sophie claimed that she could feel Lea's presence.

"Would you calm down?" Eddie asked. "She hasn't sent up Din's fire, so she's fine."

"Did you think for a moment that maybe she _couldn't_ send the signal?" Jake shot back at his brother. "She might be dead by now, for all we know!"

"For crying out loud, she's alright," Sophie said. "If she was dead, I'd know."

"But I-"

"Hey, we know you're worried," Nick said, "we all are. But sometimes you just have to have a little faith, y'know?"

"Yeah, a lot of good that's done me," Jake growled. "Look, it's been five hours. What are we going to do if she doesn't come back by morning, huh?"

Sophie was about to make a sarcastic response when something caught her attention. The trees that separated their camp from the clearing rustled slightly, just a little more than the wind could account for. A familiar aura accompanied the soft noise. "Well, look who's back," she said with a small smile.

Lea walked out of the undergrowth, pulling the mask of her face as she did so. The other members of the group, who had been unaware of Lea's presence, immediately stopped the conversation and turned to face her. Jake was the first to speak.

"So what did you find?" he asked, stepping forward with a grin.

"I know how we can get rid of Espirus," the girl replied with a similar expression. She told her companions what she had witnessed.

….

**Yup, one more short chapter. For all those getting bored with talking and negotiating, the next chapter should hopefully satisfy you. It's time for a fight scene!**


	27. All Hands on Deck

The Chosen finally agreed on an attack plan after an hour of debating. They'd sleep for what little time they had, and begin the attack at dawn. Lea and Nick had both been adamant about rushing in at night, but Sophie had simply rolled her eyes and calmly explained in a voice dripping with sarcasm that half of the crew were shadows and therefore invisible in the dark. The thralls, mindless husks as they were, had no need for sleep and so would be unsurprised by a nighttime assault. Eddie had helpfully mentioned that attacking at the break of dawn would also tip the odds in their favor if they approached from the correct angle. If the Chosen were to attack from the tree tops in a certain position, any shooters on the ship would need to aim up and into the blinding light of the sun. Thralls or no, any shooter who relies on sight would never willingly shoot into the light in this circumstance.

Needless to say, no one slept well that night. Nick nervously conjured fireballs and put them out repeatedly to try and distract himself from the daunting task ahead, to no avail. Jake's hands shook slightly as he sharpened his already razor-thin weapons. Lea checked every arrow tip to make sure they would fly correctly as Eddie handed her bottles of what he claimed were poisons, though the girl saw little point in poisoning what were essentially long-dead men. Still, she placed the fragile bottles on her belt just in case.

Eventually the night was almost past, and Sophie, the only member who'd managed even a few minutes of rest, told them to get into the trees. Alex gulped and pulled down his hood as he and Jake began climbing one of the taller redwoods with the assistance of a thick climbing rope Eddie had stashed away.

The others managed to get to their assigned positions shortly after, and perched on the tall tree branches they observed the activity on the deck.

"Wait for my signal," Jake muttered to Nick, "then throw a fireball at anything on the damn thing that you think will burn. Make it big, too; we're going to need a massive distraction."

"And a hell of a lot of luck."

"That, too," Jake smiled. A minute of agonizing waiting later, he licked his lips and nodded at the group's resident pyromaniac.

As soon as the first fireball hit, Jake leapt from the trees and fired as many shots as he could before his feet hit the deck. Three unsuspecting thralls fell dead, their weapons clattering as the bodies thudded on the floor. A fourth fell with a quick swipe from Jake's dagger, a fifth when Eddie's sword came down on his shoulder.

Electricity crackling around him told Jake that Luna had joined the fight, and the fire now out of control on the deck consumed shadows and thralls alike. Jake gave the word and Eddie charged with him into a crowd of thralls armed only with crowbars and shovels. The smashers' strength with theirs made them feel powerful, invincible as the brothers cleaved through the mass of enemies with ease.

A black-shafted arrow impaled the neck of a thrall who'd been lining up a shot at Jake's head, followed shortly after by another roaring fireball. Now joined by Drey and Alex, the Heart brothers continued their assault.

The blood pooling on the floor and dripping from his daggers made Jake sick, but he swallowed the bile building in his throat and kept going. At least thralls didn't scream.

The four Chosen fell back as a bullet ripped through Alex's right shoulder. The only cover to be found was behind an insignificantly small barrier of half-melted metal, and they sheltered there for a moment as the black-haired swordsman screamed in pain and clutched at the bloody fabric of his jacket. Eddie worked furiously to bandage the wound, but he couldn't possibly heal Alex's shoulder in the middle of a firefight.

"Dammit, there's nothing I can do!" the healer shouted in frustration over the deafening gunshots. Thank God the thralls were such terrible shooters. Jake sweated from the heat as well as fatigue as he tried in vain to come up with a solution.

Lightning still crackled as Luna efficiently cut down the thralls from her elevated position. The fire burned ever hotter as Nick ignited and fed the blazes with all the energy he had. Arrows silently eliminated thralls and shadows one at a time, but Jake knew that Lea couldn't have many left. Groups of men were thrown violently of their feet as compressed blue aura exploded around them, though Sophie was nowhere to be seen.

Jake wracked his brain for the answer and finally a small hope came to him. Nick could hurl water from Mario's device as well as fire, and with Luna's electricity the two would react and quite possibly kill every thrall on the deck. He sent a mental message to Sophie with his plan, hoping desperately that she could summon enough focus in the middle of a battle to use her telepathy.

Waiting was agony at times like this, but Jake had no other choice. To run out there would be suicide with the thralls' guns, and Alex was incapacitated as it was. He tried with Eddie to soothe his friend's pain, but knew that if his harebrained plan didn't work they would all be dead in moments.

In the minute it took for them to apply an insane amount of painkillers to Alex's arm and shoulder, Jake and the other Chosen were quickly losing hope behind their fragile barrier. Bullets tore the metal apart, and sooner or later someone would get lucky.

He was vaguely aware that the fire was no longer burning as hotly, and his heart fell when he realized that Nick must have been killed. Soon the electricity that had assaulted his ears was gone, too, and tears ran down his face with the loss of Luna. The arrows stopped falling, and Jake hoped against hope that Lea had fled once her stock was out. He slammed his fist against the metal of the deck in anger, standing to face the thralls head on. When he was shot, he would die like a man instead of cowering like a frightened mouse.

But before he could do so, a loud crack, louder than any thunder Jake had ever heard sent him to the deck, clutching his ears in pain. The noise subsided to a light buzz, and Jake shakily stood again, intent on facing his unavoidable death.

The sight before him shocked the young man. Thralls lay on the deck in a massive puddle of water, electricity buzzing through the liquid and their bodies. Some twitched as the last bits of life ebbed away. Fresh tears ran down Jake's face.

It had worked. _It had fucking worked!_

He and Eddie grinned at each other as Alex lay unconscious from the medicine.

"Just the big shots now," Eddie laughed.

….

**Yep, that's right. A several-month hiatus and I end it on a cliffhanger. **

**Did you guys think this thing was dead? So did I, actually. I couldn't summon up any will to write this, and when I did it came out as absolute crap. Hell, I don't even know if anyone is still reading this shit. I've been trying to write this thing for freaking months, but it just wouldn't happen. Like, at all. Then school started and I ended up with no time at all. **

**But all excuses aside, this took way longer than it should have. (Yeah, that's an understatement.) Hopefully, though, I've come back better than before. **

**Thanks to whoever's reading this!**


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